February 11 - May 6, 2019

Mondays, 21:00 - 22:30 (Sao Paulo time)

No class on March 11, April 15, and April 29.

Microfinance and financial inclusion have been promoted as  means to alleviate poverty, encompassing  credit, savings, insurance and access to means of payment. Due to the enormous gap between supply and demand of financial services that meet the needs of the poor, there is room for the use of new technologies (ICT4D) for enhancing strategies that face poverty. At the same time, inclusion there is a potential synergy between financial inclusion and public policies that could be exploited.

The course will discuss focus contemporary topics linked to financial  inclusion and development, covering topics such as  microfinance, green microfinance, digital social currencies, blockchain, conditional cash transfers and housing finance.

The classes will include lectures, business cases, public policy cases, discussion forums and other resources that will help students to understand the current ecosystem of financial inclusion, the new dynamics linked to technology, the main actors and the connections to public policies aiming at promoting sustainable development.

About the instructor

Lauro Emilio Gonzalez Farias

Visiting Professor at Université Paris-Dauphine between 2013 and 2017. Visiting Professor at Columbia University in 2014 and 2015. Professor at the Department of Finance of FGV EAESP and coordinator of the Center for Studies in Microfinance and Financial Inclusion at FGV. Post-doctor at Université Paris-Dauphine in 2012. Doctor of Economics at FGV EESP in 2007. He was fellow of the Microfinance Management Institute in 2005 and Visiting Researcher at the Columbia University in 2004.