The Hidden Consequences of Credit

An Illustration from Rural Indonesia

Bibliographic Data

ID5048818
AuthorsJulien-François Gerber (0000-0002-4024-2480, corresponding author), Julien‐françois Gerber
Year2013
Volume44
Issue4
Pages839-860
Publication date2013-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueDevelopment and Change (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0012-155X • E-ISSN: 1467-7660
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/dech.12045
OpenAlexW2100190641
LanguageEN
Citations received22
References cited34

Interest in rural financial development has been booming, but often with a blind eye to the broader consequences. Very few studies have tackled the unintended economic, social and ecological outcomes of ordinary indebtedness, the inevitable other side of credit. This article explores some of the main 'hidden' side-effects of credit/debt relations, with special reference to the Indonesian plantation sector. I argue that widespread credit/debt relations are not only an important factor behind capital, land and labour control; they also generate constraints that foster market discipline and contribute to undermine traditional community bonds as well as environmental conditions. More generally, credit/debt relations represent a powerful mechanism of social selection that has, in the long run, crucially shaped the trajectory of capitalism at the household, firm and government levels

Bond market · Capitalism · Control (management) · Debt · Economics · Government (linguistics) · Indonesian · Indonesian government · Market economy · Mechanism (biology) · Political science · Social capital · Sociology · Unintended consequences · Agriculture, Land Use, Rural Development · Finance · Land Rights and Reforms · Microfinance and Financial Inclusion

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