Breaking Cyclical Poverty: An Examination of Microlending’s Effects and Return on Investment

Abstract

Since the beginning of civilization, poverty has been an issue. It has sparked revolutions and brought down great empires. Most recent, credible estimates state that roughly over 3 billion people in the world live at or below the poverty line of $2.50 a day. This reality can be traced to various factors- war, social inequality, national debt, etc- and makes poverty one of the most pressing issues society faces. To address the former, many efforts have been made including microlending. In this paper, microlending and its effects will be analyzed in depth to determine whether it is viable and how its consequences impact cyclical poverty.