From the Morris Plan to Grameen America

Check out these two New York Times headlines:The first is from July 19, 1915 (see my bibliography of historical materials). The article reports on the first six months of the Morris Plan bank in New York. As I describe in the chapter 3 draft, Morris Plan banks originated in the southeast United States; their loans were routinely referred to as "small loans" since the "micro-" prefix wasn't so much in currency then. Instead of collateral, borrowers had to produce two co-signers or "co-makers," who were jointly liable with the primary borrower for the debt.The second headline is from a recent NYT blog post describing the first months of operation of Grameen America. The Grameen Bank and its group lending method of course originated in Bangladesh and have now reached New York City too.The parallel is not perfect. Grameen America clients are mainly women who are supposed to start small businesses. Most of the Morris Plan borrowers were men with jobs and reported using the credit (actually, like women in Bangladesh today) for everything from paying off loan sharks to covering tuition. And though Grameen made joint liability famous in our era, and the Morris Bank certainly used it, it's not clear to me how much Grameen America imposes it, either by holding borrowers legally responsible for each other's loans, or by prolonging group meetings until all loan dues are paid by someone. (The FAQs seem ambiguous on this point.)Still, an interesting reminder that we follow in the tracks of our ancestors more than we usually realize.