Jonathan Morduch
Encyclopedia
Jonathan Morduch is a Professor of Public Policy and Economics at the NYU Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service. He is a prominent development economist most well known for his significant academic contributions to assessing the impact of microfinance
since the early years of the movement. He has written extensively on poverty and financial institutions in developing countries and on tensions between achieving social impacts and meeting financial goals in microfinance.
Morduch is the Managing Director of the Financial Access Initiative
, a consortium of leading development economists (including Sendhil Mullainathan
at Harvard and Dean Karlan
at Yale
) that aims to expand access to financial services for low-income individuals in developing countries through research, supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Morduch is currently chair of the United Nations Committee on Poverty Statistics. He is a member of the Editorial Board of the World Bank Economic Review and of the UN Advisors Group on Inclusive Financial Sectors.
He holds a BA from Brown and Ph.D. from Harvard, both in Economics
. In January 2009, Morduch was awarded a Doctorate Honoris Causa from the Université Libre de Bruxelles.
(Winter 2009) investigates the tensions and opportunities for microfinance as it embraces the financial markets. Morduch’s work and views on access to finance
and social investment are widely cited.
Microfinance
Microfinance is the provision of financial services to low-income clients or solidarity lending groups including consumers and the self-employed, who traditionally lack access to banking and related services....
since the early years of the movement. He has written extensively on poverty and financial institutions in developing countries and on tensions between achieving social impacts and meeting financial goals in microfinance.
Morduch is the Managing Director of the Financial Access Initiative
Financial Access Initiative
Established in 2006, the Financial Access Initiative is an American consortium of researchers at New York University, Yale University, Harvard University and Innovations for Poverty Action focused on finding answers to how financial sectors can better meet the needs of poor households.The...
, a consortium of leading development economists (including Sendhil Mullainathan
Sendhil Mullainathan
Sendhil Mullainathan is a Professor of Economics at Harvard University. He was hired with tenure by Harvard in 2004 after having spent six years at MIT, first as a junior faculty member and then as a full professor. He is a recipient of a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant" and conducts research on...
at Harvard and Dean Karlan
Dean Karlan
Dean Karlan is a Professor of Economics at Yale University and a Research Fellow at the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology...
at Yale
YALE
RapidMiner, formerly YALE , is an environment for machine learning, data mining, text mining, predictive analytics, and business analytics. It is used for research, education, training, rapid prototyping, application development, and industrial applications...
) that aims to expand access to financial services for low-income individuals in developing countries through research, supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Morduch is currently chair of the United Nations Committee on Poverty Statistics. He is a member of the Editorial Board of the World Bank Economic Review and of the UN Advisors Group on Inclusive Financial Sectors.
He holds a BA from Brown and Ph.D. from Harvard, both in Economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
. In January 2009, Morduch was awarded a Doctorate Honoris Causa from the Université Libre de Bruxelles.
Books and Selected Publications
Morduch is co-author of The Economics of Microfinance (2005) with Beatriz Armendariz de Aghion. His upcoming book, Portfolios of the Poor: How the World's Poor Live on $2 a Day is co-authored with Daryl Collins, Stuart Rutherford, and Orlanda Ruthven. His most recent publication, Microfinance Meets the Market ,in the Journal of Economic PerspectivesJournal of Economic Perspectives
The Journal of Economic Perspectives is an economic journal published by the American Economic Association. The journal is very broad in its scope...
(Winter 2009) investigates the tensions and opportunities for microfinance as it embraces the financial markets. Morduch’s work and views on access to finance
Access to finance
Access to finance refers to the possibility that individuals or enterprises can access financial services, including credit, deposit, payment, insurance, and other risk management services...
and social investment are widely cited.