"Interest in access to finance and awareness of its importance have increased significantly
since the early 2000s. Growing evidence suggests that lack of access to credit prevents
many households and firms from financing high-return investment projects, which has an
adverse effect on growth and poverty alleviation. Despite the increasing awareness of the
importance of access to finance among both researchers and policymakers, there are still
some major gaps in our understanding of the main drivers of access, as well as about the
impact of different policies in this area.
This book aims to fill some of these gaps by discussing recent innovative experiences in
broadening access to credit in Latin America. These experiences are consistent with an
emerging new view that, while recognizing the central role of the public sector in improving
the contractual and informational environment for financial markets, also contends that
there might be room for well-designed, restricted inte
