| Abstract | Religion plays a distinct role in microfinance. This paper seeks to identify, through an inductive case study of two microfinance institutions (MFIs), the impacts of religion on development through a religious financial analysis. The study concludes there are positives and negatives, and the differences can be powerful. The differences are powered by a set of shared values and core principles that religion promotes, making the religion-microfinance nexus distinct and unique; the two weigh heavily upon each other. Religion brings an emphasis on universally applicable values and development is a vehicle for value fulfillment. In the microcosm of the study, religion promotes lowered borrowing costs, connects the organization to the community on a deeper level than in its absence, and encourages microcredit+ services that work to alleviate needs that are non-economic. However, there are lowered rates of return and portfolio yields because lower interest rates are charged and financial profitability is often held in question. |
