"Microcredit in Pre-Famine Ireland" BY: AIDAN HOLLIS University of Calgary, Canada ARTHUR SWEETMAN University of Victoria, Canada ELECTRONIC DOCUMENT DELIVERY: available at no charge from: http://papers.ssrn.com/paper.qry?abstract_id=1297 Date: April 1997 Contact: Aidan Hollis E-Mail: MAILTO:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Postal: Dept. of Economics, 2500 University Dr., NW Calgary AB, T2N 1N4, Canada Phone: (403) 220-5861 Fax: (403) 220-5262 Co-Auth: MAILTO:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ERN Ref: HISTORY:WPS97-114 Hundreds of independent, local, quasi-charitable microcredit societies, or "loan funds," were lending to as many as 20% of Irish households in the mid-nineteenth century. Monitored by a central regulatory authority, funds in the system were successful in mitigating informational, moral hazard and enforcement problems, and thus operated at a surplus in a market where intermediation by the banks seems not to have been possible. Created under special legislation, their goal was to relieve poverty by providing credit to the "industri- ous poor" on a large scale, at competitive interest rates, without public funding. Evidence from the loan funds offers new insights into capital formation in the Irish economy of the nineteenth century and suggests that traditional notions regarding the economic activities of the Irish poor may need to be rethought; it is also relevant for development economists studying current microcredit initiatives. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 916-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]