ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts covered in the preceding chapters of this book. The book provides theoretical and empirical analyses that explain the influence of finance on economic distribution and the potential of financial cooperatives to improve wealth and income distribution. It identifies the economic objective and the institutional factors that determine the development of financial cooperatives. The book then explains the dynamics of income and wealth distribution with credit rationing, and direction of capital transfer from low- and middle-income classes to upper-income classes, compared to the dynamics of distribution with financial cooperatives. It defines desired deposit and lending interest rates, as well as optimal total credit and total external borrowings for cooperatives, all of which aim at increasing income of cooperative members at a rate higher than the average growth rate of the economy. The book explains the political economy of financial cooperatives and the origin and rationale for financial cooperative regulation in underdeveloped economies.
