Managing Editor’s Editorial

Dear Forum Reader,

This year begins with a major change. Wolfram Elsner stepped down from managing the editorial team of the Forum. He is about to begin a new journey in the world of economics by editing EAEPE’s forthcoming journal. We wish him a great success. We are sure that he will keep on contributing in one way or another to the Forum’s vitality.

The editorial team and I will continue pursuing our project for a journal that puts social issues center stage. To this end, we will keep on being open to different theoretical perspectives, to applied research, to new analytical methods and to new policy-centered approaches.

The Forum has been improving over time. Downloads and citations are rising and we will soon increase the number of pages per issue. This testifies to the importance of the themes that the Forum is concerned with. We thank those who choose to publish their papers on the Forum and look forward to their suggestions.

This issue is entirely devoted to micro finance. As the introduction by Bateman points out, micro finance was an appealing idea for many people—both within and outside of academia—who sought new pathways to development. As it happens, it turned out to be an interesting research topic for scholars who study the social costs of financialization. The authors provide detailed analyses of how micro credit failed, owing to its erroneous theoretical foundations. They also point out how micro finance is complementary and functional to a neoliberal policy stance. Finally, they stress the social costs that control fraud and profiting from financial illiteracy determined in different countries. There is more to the papers than the mere treatment of a specific field of inquiry. I expect their combination of social, theoretical and policy-related issues to be of interest to a wide range of readers.

Enjoy the issue!

Paolo Ramazzotti
[email protected]