A deeply reported work of journalism that explores the promises and perils of global microfinance, told through the eyes of those who work in small-scale lending and of women borrowers in Sierra Leone, West Africa.
In the mid-1970s, Muhammad Yunus, an American-trained Bangladeshi economist, met a poor female stoolmaker who needed money to expand her business. In an act known as the beginning of microfinance, Yunus lent $27 to 42 women, hoping small credit would help them to pull themselves out of poverty. Soon, Yunus’s Grameen Bank was born, and, very small but often high-interest loans for poor people took off. In 2006, Yunus and the Grameen Bank won the Nobel Peace Prize.
But there’s a problem with this story. There are mounting concerns that these small loans are as likely to bury poor people in debt as they are to pull them from poverty, with borrowers facing consequences such as jail time and forced land sales. Hundreds have even reportedly committed suicide.
What happened? Did microfinance take a wrong turn, or was microfinance flawed from the beginning?
We Are Not Able to Live in the Sky is a story about unintended consequences, blind optimism, and the decades-long ramifications of seemingly small policy choices, rooted in the stories of women borrowers in Sierra Leone. Kardas-Nelson asks: What happens when a single, financially focused solution to global inequity ignores the real drivers of poverty? Who stands to benefit and, more importantly, who gets left behind?
‘A keen examination of the rise and fall in popularity of the microfinance loan system … This thoughtful deep dive into the world of microfinance is both educative and heartbreaking.'
Kirkus Reviews
‘Through a dazzling, superbly paced combination of astute history and on-the-ground observation in Sierra Leone, West Africa, Mara Kardas-Nelson holds the claims of microfinance up to the light. I wish that every new idea touted as the solution to the world’s problems had such a thoughtful and compassionate examination.'
Adam Hochschild, bestselling author of American Midnight and King Leopold’s Ghost
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‘What happens to money loaned to extremely poor people? Who gains and who loses? In her exhaustively researched tour de force, Mara Kardas-Nelson explodes myths — in some cases, lies — bringing tough truths to microfinancing, high-interest loans, and even the Nobel Prize. We Are Not Able to Live in the Sky should be mandatory reading for everybody looking for solutions to extreme poverty.'
Laurie Garrett, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Betrayal of Trust: the collapse of global public health
‘By turns a fascinating global history of micro-credit and a haunting account of its effects on a handful of women in Sierra Leone, We Are Not Able to Live in the Sky traces the rise, fall, and afterlife of an industry built on neoliberal fantasies, on the preening of powerful poseurs, and on the backs of millions of desperate people.’
James K. Galbraith, The University of Texas at Austin, author of Inequality: what everyone needs to know
‘Mara Kardas-Nelson has written a superb, layered, riveting book everyone should read. She takes us inside the minds of architects of microfinance programs who spent decades standing behind their inventions and the women whose lives are endlessly challenged by those programs, considering the forces and mechanisms that conspire against them and inviting us to imagine how it could be different across the world. We Are Not Able to Live in the Sky reminds us that well-intentioned is not the same as imaginative or aspirational when it comes to building systems to accompany others out of poverty.’
Ophelia Dahl, cofounder of Partners in Health
‘As global inequality grows and grows, this absorbing book offers a detailed look at how and why proposed solutions to poverty take off, even as significant flaws that may in fact entrench inequality are overlooked. It shows the danger of an over-simplified story, and examines how so-called assistance for the world’s poorest people can have serious and life-changing consequences.’
Sally Hayden, author of My Fourth Time, We Drowned
