ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author concentrates on how the poor obtain the large lump sums they need from time to time. He reviews the financial services – formal and informal – that have evolved to serve this need. Emergencies that create a sudden and unanticipated need for a large sum of money come in two forms – personal and impersonal. Personal emergencies include sickness or injury, the death of a bread-winner or the loss of employment, and theft or harassment. The process is one of ‘financial intermediation’ of the kind that a regular banker would recognize, because many small savings are ‘intermediated’ into lump sums.
