Financial institutions around the world have made it easier for private individuals to take out a variety of loans and use financial products to invest and speculate. This trend has affected the ways in which people purchase property, consume desired goods, or cope with financial crises. But the influence of debt and the financial industry extends also beyond the economic sphere to changing lifestyles, gender relations, and familial ties. The conference ‘Household Finance in an Unequal World: Social Approaches’ at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology on 5–6 December takes a closer look at these developments.
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