Microcredit Meltdown

Crystal Murphy is assistant professor of political science at Chapman University.

• Chapter One: From a Galaxy Far, Far Away to the Souq: Tracing the Neoliberal TraditionChapter Two: Does Microcredit Work? The Limits of What We Know 73Chapter Three: I Can’t Exchange for Dollars but Will You Talk With Me?: Learning in a Different WayChapter Four: Blueprints And Architects: The Beginnings of South Sudan MicrocreditChapter Five: Cookie Cutters And Meeting People: The Role of Postwar Social Ties In Acquiring MicrocreditChapter Six: What’s Trust Got To Do With It? The Value Of Postwar Social Ties Within The Group Chapter Seven: Borrower Breakdowns: Diagnosing Postwar AilmentsChapter Eight: “They Think Food Grows On Trucks”: An Industry Diagnosis Chapter Nine: Autopsy: The Fall Of South Sudan's Microcredit SectorConclusion: Can We Learn From The Parable Of South Sudan?

This study of post-independence Juba, its depressed and challenged economy in post-war South Sudan, describes how people survive and how microcredit institutions can learn from this case. It argues that South Sudan is not the Grameen Bank’s Bangladesh and that there is no “cookie cutter” model for success in microcredit loans. It critiques neoliberal economics and is valuable for practitioners, addressing the controversy between lending to the ultra-poor or to marginally prosperous. In a social context where social ties are valued over borrower repayment and are weakened by hyperinflation and import dependence, the author concludes that microfinance is in need of accommodation to specific contexts. It argues that microfinance institutions are beholden to debt ratings, problematic metrics and external constraints from non-local lenders and calls for revisiting microfinance in post-conflict environments.