VoxEU Talk

Financial systems in developing countries: how poor people lift themselves out of poverty

Robert Townsend of MIT talks about his research on how the lives of the world’s poor can be improved through more efficient financial systems. Drawing on data gathered from an extensive survey of Thai households, Townsend discusses risk-sharing and the importance of networks, the rate of saving and return on assets, and villages as small, open economies. The interview was recorded in London in November 2010.