The ‘Fair credit, health and wellbeing’ project has been funded by a grant from the Chief Scientist Office and aims to explore the perceived association between improved income, community connectedness and potential resulting health effects.
Having been used in developing countries to support entrepreneurship and provide relief from poverty, microcredit is a form of small loan for those who typically lack collateral, steady employment and a verifiable credit history.
Led by Professor Cam Donaldson, Chair of the university’s Yunus Centre for Social Business and Health, the study will bring together experts from Newcastle University, Sheffield University, the Glasgow Centre for Population Health, Glasgow City Council and the NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.
Professor Donaldson said: “With health inequalities widening and becoming more entrenched in parts of our society, it is important to think of and evaluate new and more holistic ways of addressing this major societal challenge. Money has a role in this. It is very rare to explore people’s relationships with money and even less so how fair credit might actually impact on their shorter and longer-term wellbeing. GCU’s Yunus Centre is proud to be at the forefront of this area of research.”
Links
Glasgow Caledonian University: ‘Glasgow researchers investigate links between microcredit loans and health‘