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Complementarity, Competition and Institutional Development: The Irish Loan Funds through Three Centuries

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Author Info
Aidan Hollis (University of Calgary)
Arthur Sweetman (University of Victoria)

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Abstract

Ireland's loan funds were a long lived, self-sustaining, large-scale microcredit organization that made millions of loans, without collateral, to the poor. We examine the life-cycle of this institution and show how the loan funds responded to their economic environment in ways that benefitted Ireland but diminished the demand for the funds' services. During their first 100 years, a period of growth ending in the 1840s, they adapted constantly to reflect their changing environment, and were successful in obtaining improvements to their legal structure because they were complementary to the banking system and were seen as an effective method of relieving poverty. In contrast, in their second hundred years, they became ossified, perhaps because the commercial banks had become direct competitors. We see in their progress through 200 years an example of Douglass North's contention that institutions change incrementally and, when they are successful, often change the framework within which they operate.

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Paper provided by EconWPA in its series Economic History with number 9704003.

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Length: 32 pages
Date of creation: 15 Apr 1997
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Handle: RePEc:wpa:wuwpeh:9704003

Note: 32 pages
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Find related papers by JEL classification:
N23 - Economic History - - Financial Markets and Institutions - - - Europe: Pre-1913
O16 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Financial Markets; Saving and Capital Investment
O17 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements

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  1. Banerjee, Abhijit V & Besley, Timothy & Guinnane, Timothy W, 1994. "Thy Neighbor's Keeper: The Design of a Credit Cooperative with Theory and a Test," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 109(2), pages 491-515, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  2. Aidan Hollis & Arthur Sweetman, 1997. "Microcredit in Pre-Famine Ireland," Economic History 9704002, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
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  3. Besley, Timothy, 1995. "Savings, credit and insurance," Handbook of Development Economics, in: Hollis Chenery† & T.N. Srinivasan (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 36, pages 2123-2207 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  1. Aidan Hollis & Arthur Sweetman, 1997. "Microcredit in Pre-Famine Ireland," Economic History 9704002, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
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