Finding a common definition of «microcredit» is difficult both in the operative and in the academic field. Acknowledging that difficulty is a first step towards recognizing the specificity and plurality of microfinance experiences today. The multiplication of many completely different models enables us to describe microfinance as a sort of «galaxy». The phenomenon has consolidated itself in the course of time and has spread on a planetary scale; even though it is certainly more prominent in developing countries, it is also rapidly spreading in post-industrial countries, too. Far from trying to give an exhaustive definition of microfinance, one should remember that forms of microfinance, roughly definable as such, existed in the past of our country and still do in many countries, too. They are not exclusively used as tools in the struggle against poverty but rather, as forms of mutual assistance in favour of marginal or vulnerable categories, as for example, mutual benefit societies, cooperative banks, informal self help groups, etc. From the social-anthropological research on microcredit that we have carried out, there seem to emerge two new fields of analysis. The first field considers the impact of microcredit experiences on the new relationships between local communities and economic globalization processes. In a world in which there are widespread, and at times, dramatic processes of labour transformation (rights, precariousness, work flexibility), what opportunities does access to microcredit disclose in order to sustain vulnerability situations? In post-industrial countries, what weight should the «group» and women, as a privileged target of microcredit? How can microcredit be an instrument of female emancipation even in «wealthier» countries where, in spite of their social and political affirmation, it is still difficult for women to get in to the labour market? A second field of analysis should in reconsider the validity of the microcredit instrument in facing the new impoverishment processes even in post-industrial countries and in the current global financial crisis. Who are the «new» poor today? What does it mean to lose your job in a world of intense specialization? What is poverty in contexts of severe welfare crisis? What impact can microcredit have as a strategy for promoting education? Is microcredit an efficient instrument in the struggle against “new poverty” in «post industrial» countries?