Een einde aan meer dan Honderdvijfentwintig jaar microkrediet

Abstract

This paper takes a long-term view on the creation and development of the Dutch Help Banks a historic microcredit institution belonging to the recently uncovered co-signatory lending institute.By focusing on a single one of these institutions and following its lengthy lifecycle spanning more than a century this study contributes to our understanding of what made these institutions keep functioning even as they faced dramatic economic and societal changes. But ultimately focusing on what it was that caused they eventual disappearance. In doing so it reveals how one particular Help bank in Haarlem was able to remain relevant up into the mid twentieth century and remain in business for another thirty years after World War Two had ended. Through careful reconstruction of the institute’s financial health and credit distribution this study shows the flexibility of Help banks to continue serving their customers by making many small but meaningful changes to their business formulas. Some of which reveal interesting new avenues for microcredit research and reaching greater financial inclusivity. A study of an institution at the microlevel also points to the value of digging deeper into the social networks that makeup institutions like these. Especially with institutions birthed by particular social ideals like the Help bank, as the extensive quantitative data and information from the business side still leaves some important questions unanswered with regards to the creativeness these institutions display in adapting to their changing circumstances.