Price stability is achieved when changes in the general price level do not materially affect the economic decision-making process. Although relative price movements will still have an impact on production, consumption and investment, the rate of inflation or deflation is not an important factor in the decisions taken by producers, consumers and the authorities under stable price conditions.
As Mohammed Younis from Bangladesh, the man who dreamed up microcredit realised, social sanction can be the most powerful incentive to pay what you owe. It follows that cooperative institutions such as credit unions will have a better track record than banks, so long as they are tolerably well run.