Problem

1. Evaluate the merits of the following statement: "The only reason why a large majority of microfinance clients are women is because women are the main brokers of health and education."

2. Provide at least three reasons why, relative to men, women may be better clients, from the standpoint of a microfinance enterprise.

3. Some argue that women's preferences are more Rawlsian than men's, so they distribute the resources they control more equally between the boys and girls in their families than men do. If boys hold more earning potential than girls, women's resource allocations do not maximize their families' future earnings. Others claim lending to women has a greater impact than lending to men. At first glance these assertions appear contradictory. Reconcile them.