In the years since I started working on the research for this book I have lived in four different cities and have been fortunate to receive the support, guidance, and encouragement of many friends and colleagues.First of all, I want to thank the members and leaders of financial self-help groups in New York and in Argentina, who let me join them in their activities and learn from their lives.This book would not exist without their openness, generosity, good will, and eagerness to teach me.To preserve anonymity, I am not using their real names.But they know who they are, and I am grateful to them.This project started at Columbia University.I was fortunate to receive the extraordinary guidance of Gil Eyal, who continues to influence my sociologi-
