The Dark Side of Development
David R. Whitehouse, Mila AgiusGlobal South Regulatory Intelligence: microfinance, fintech.
| Platform |  | Pricing | Only free issues | Publishes | Weekly |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Issues | 148 | Founded | 4 years ago | Last Issue | 19 days ago |
| Active | |||||
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drdavidwhitehouse.substack.comLatest Issues
Gulliver’s Travels, Microfinance and the Invention of Tradition
The Dark Side of Development takes its usual publishing break in August. We will be back at the start of September.
Go on then, what do Gulliver’s Travels and microfinance have in common?
The Dark Side of Development is a reader-supporte...
Microfinance 2040: The Architecture of Global Control
Most forecasts for the microfinance industry today stop at 2030. Beyond that horizon, standard forecasting methods stop describing changes to the architecture of the system itself.
The Dark Side of Development is a reader-supported publica...
The Cold War origins of microfinance
IFC microcredit success story picture in India, via X.
Debt is intuitively a strange mechanism for poverty reduction. The idea that poor people struggling to find employment in the developing world really need a loan to stop them f...
IFC to end global microfinance consumer protection, source says
Not Our Problem
The IFC is set to announce that it will stop accepting microfinance consumer protection cases globally, a World Bank source familiar with the matter said.
The Dark Side of Development is a reader-supported publicati...
Triodos Impact-Investing Mask Conceals a Profit Machine
A screenshot from Mexican microfinance lender TiendaPago showing an annual average interest rate of 857%. Thanks to Zac Coleman for spotting.
The Triodos responses to the questions we asked are reproduced in full and verbatim at the botto...
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Authors
The writers behind this newsletter.
Journalist, author, historian (PhD). Former Bloomberg editor of 17 years, then 6 years at The Africa Report. Contributor to The Banker (FT) and Devex. Microfinance, fintech regulation in developing countries. Weekly updates.
I track the early signals shaping the future of money, business, reputation, and media – before they harden into normal life. Behavioural analysis, fintech, trust, systems. No hype. Just clarity. A fixed analytical voice, not a personal identity.
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