A Conversation with David Roodman

Author
Due Diligence:
An impertinent inquiry into microfinance

David Roodman's new book, Due Diligence, is being touted as "the microfinance book that grown-ups have been waiting for" (Felix Salmon, Reuters). Written entirely in public with input from readers, Due Diligence probes the truth about microfinance. In particular, it explains the need to deemphasize microcredit in favor of other financial services for the poor. Roodman applies a balanced and pragmatic lens to the industry that has captured the public imagination, recruited billions of dollars, served millions of customers and garnered a Noble Prize.

Join SVMN on Thursday, January 12th as David Roodman discusses his new book, his path-breaking "open book" blog, and the research he conducts at the Center for Global Development where he manages the Commitment to Development Index.

Purchase your ticket early! Seatings is limited.

Tickets are an additional $10 at the door.

Event Agenda
6:00 - 6:15pm Networking
6:15 - 6:55pm Speaker Presentation
6:55 - 7:15pm Audience Q&A
7:15 - 8:00pm Reception (beverages and appetizers will be provided)

Due Diligence: An impertinent inquiry into microfinance

By David Roodman

David Roodman's latest book is due to be released the week of this event. We hope to have copies available for purchase during the talk. You can also purchase a copy in advance by clicking here.

Reviews for Due Diligence

“At a time when the pendulum of public opinion on microfinance is swinging from exuberance to cynicism, Roodman’s balanced, evidence-based assessment is a timely and seminal contribution. This is an essential read for practitioners, promoters, and critics of microfinance.”—Sir Fazle Abed, founder and chair, BRAC

“Roodman has been the most consistent and articulate analyst of microcredit in recent years. I hope this book reaches a wide readership and brings lasting, universal improvements in financial services for low-income people.” —Muhammad Yunus, gounder, Grameen Bank  

“Microfinance has more than its fair share of myths, both positive and negative. It’s a field in desperate need of cool, rational, and evidence-based analysis, and David Roodman has proved that he is singularly capable of providing it.” —Tim Harford, author of The Undercover Economist and Adapt

“No other book on microfinance is at once so well-informed and so objective. Roodman has an insider’s depth of understanding, while his position outside the field allows him to look with clear—and penetrating—eyes.” —Elisabeth Rhyne, Managing Director, Center for Financial Inclusion

“Roodman pulls off the feat of examining microfinance from many angles without losing focus. The result is the most thoughtful book about the industry yet published—and consequently one of the most thought-provoking.” —Stuart Rutherford, author of The Poor and Their Money

“Due Diligence is a balanced, respectful, diagnostic effort to make microfinance a more powerful tool for social progress. For microfinance activists Roodman has written a page turner. Obligatory reading if you want to call yourself a microfinance leader.”  —Jonathan Lewis, founder and chair, MicroCredit Enterprises

“Due Diligence is the microfinance book that grown-ups have been waiting for, as complex and fascinating as its subject. Roodman brushes away the slogans and the oversimplified dogmas to uncover microfinance’s long history and multifarious present. And best of all, it’s a pleasure to read.”—Felix Salmon, Reuters

Speaker Bio

David Roodmam

David Roodman is a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development currently focusing on microfinance. His forthcoming book Due Diligence asks bottom-line questions about what we know about the benefits of microfinance, and what that implies for how it should be supported. He wrote the book through a pathbreaking "open book" blog, where he shared questions, discoveries, and chapter drafts.

Roodman has been architect and manager of the Commitment to Development Index since the project's inception in 2002. The Index ranks the world's richest countries based on their dedication to policies that benefit the 5 billion people living in poorer nations; it is widely recognized as the most comprehensive measure of rich-country policies towards the developing world.

Roodman has written several papers questioning the capacity of common cross-country statistical techniques to shed light on what causes economic development. He co-authored a 2004 American Economic Review paper that challenged findings of World Bank research that aid works in a good policy environment. His non-technical Guide for the Perplexed builds on analysis of methodological problems and fragility in other studies. Among econometricians Roodman is best known for his computer program xtabond2, which implements the Arellano-Bond and Blundell-Bond generalized method of moments estimators. xtabond2 is one of the most downloaded add-ons ever for the commercial statistics program Stata. In 2011, Roodman ranked in the top 10 on the RePEc list of top young economists in the world.

Roodman previously worked at the Worldwatch Institute, where he wrote three monographs on environmental issues, and one on debt, Still Waiting for the Jubilee: Pragmatic Solutions for the Third World Debt Crisis. He authored the book The Natural Wealth of Nations: Harnessing the Market for the Environment, which Foreign Affairs called "required reading for legislators around the world.” The Japanese edition garnered him a selection as one of "The Outstanding Young Persons" of 2003 by the Osaka Junior Chamber, which led to an audience with the Emperor and Empress.

Roodman spent academic year 1998–99 on a Fulbright in Vietnam. He has never taken a course in economics or statistics.

This event takes place in space provided by O'Melveny & Myers LLP. Thank you!

SVMN is a project housed by Opportunity Fund, California's largest non-profit microlender.