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on Community banking and credit unions |
| By: | Abderrahim Roukaa (Faculté des Sciences juridiques, économiques et sociales – Agdal Université Mohammed V de Rabat, Maroc); Karima Ghazouani (Faculté des Sciences juridiques, économiques et sociales – Agdal Université Mohammed V de Rabat, Maroc) |
| Abstract: | Although financial technologies, or FinTech, are widely recognized for their potential to improve access to financial services in emerging markets, the structural mechanisms through which an ecosystem transforms this technological promise into effective financial inclusion remain insufficiently understood. This issue is particularly relevant in North Africa, where institutional frameworks are undergoing rapid transformation, while academic research on this topic remains relatively limited. This article addresses this gap by developing an integrative and multilevel conceptual framework that articulates six core constructs, ranging from the regulatory environment to the socio-economic impact. Drawing on a theoretical synthesis grounded in four foundational streams: the FinTech ecosystems, open innovation, financial inclusion, and ecosystem theory particularly through the contributions of Lee and Shin (2018), Chesbrough (2003), Sarma and Pais (2011), and Adner (2017), the proposed model positions open innovation as a central mediating mechanism. It represents the conceptual missing link through which the meso-level structure of the ecosystem is converted into effective technological development. Anchored in Morocco's paradoxical institutional landscape, characterized by relatively robust financial infrastructure, persistent financial exclusion, and a strong predominance of cash-based payments, the proposed framework formulates nine testable research propositions. The contribution of this article is threefold. First, it bridges two theoretical perspectives that are often examined separately: the ecosystem approach and open innovation. Second, it brings the still underexplored North African context into contemporary debates on FinTech and financial inclusion. Third, it proposes an original conceptual model that can be operationalized and empirically tested in future research, particularly through partial least squares structural equation modeling, or PLS-SEM. |
| Abstract: | Bien que les technologies financières (FinTech) soient reconnues pour leur potentiel à améliorer l'accès aux services financiers dans les marchés émergents, les mécanismes structurels par lesquels un écosystème convertit cette promesse technologique en inclusion réelle demeurent une « boîte noire ». Cette interrogation est particulièrement pertinente en Afrique du Nord, où les cadres institutionnels connaissent des transformations rapides, tandis que les travaux académiques consacrés à cette question restent relativement limités. Cet article comble ces lacunes en développant un cadre conceptuel intégrateur multiniveaux qui articule six construits cardinaux, de l'environnement réglementaire à l'impact socio-économique. Mobilisant une démarche de synthèse théorique adossée à quatre courants séminaux (Lee & Shin, 2018 ; Chesbrough, 2003 ; Sarma & Pais, 2011 ; Adner, 2017), notre modèle positionne l'innovation ouverte comme le mécanisme médiateur crucial, le chaînon manquant qui convertit la structure méso de l'écosystème en développement technologique effectif. Ancré dans le paysage institutionnel paradoxal du Maroc caractérisé par des infrastructures solides, mais une exclusion persistante et une forte prédominance de la culture de cash, le cadre formalise neuf propositions de recherche testables. La contribution de cet article est triple. Premièrement, il rapproche deux perspectives théoriques souvent traitées séparément: l'approche par les écosystèmes et celle de l'innovation ouverte. Deuxièmement, il inscrit le cas nord-africain, encore peu étudié, dans les débats contemporains sur les FinTechs et l'inclusion financière. Troisièmement, il propose un modèle conceptuel susceptible d'être testé empiriquement au moyen de la modélisation par équations structurelles selon l'approche PLS-SEM pour les futures recherches empiriques. |
| Keywords: | emerging markets., conceptual framework, financial inclusion, open innovation, FinTech ecosystem, marchés émergents, cadre conceptuel, inclusion financière, innovation ouverte, écosystème FinTech, écosystème FinTech innovation ouverte inclusion financière cadre conceptuel marchés émergents. Classification JEL : G21 G23 G28 O31 O33 O55 FinTech ecosystem open innovation financial inclusion conceptual framework emerging markets. JEL Classification: G21 G23 G28 O31 O33 O55 |
| Date: | 2026–07–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05691508 |
| By: | Michael King (Trinity College Dublin); Paolina Medina (University of Houston); Benjamin Radoc, Jr. (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas); Roland Umanan (Trinity Impact Evaluation Unit) |
| Abstract: | Digital credit—short-term, high-interest loans offered via mobile channels—has surged over the past decade, reaching millions in the developing world. However, much like payday loans in developed economies, it remains unclear whether its liquidity benefits outweigh the risks of overindebtedness and financial distress. Using an online discrete choice experiment with digital credit users in the Philippines, we examine how disclosures about price and non-price attributes affect consumer choice. We find that standardizing contract terms across products leads consumers to choose loans with lower interest rates and higher probability of approval at the expense of longer time to disburse and higher documentation requirements. Presenting interest rates in effective (compounded) or nominal terms makes no difference but ranking by a selected attribute leads to a more favorable product choice. Typical consumers are responsive to disclosures about late payment fees but not overconfident consumers. We argue that overconfidence can reduce the effectiveness of attention-based interventions and consumers’ revealed risk profiles. |
| JEL: | D12 D14 G41 G51 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bhd:dpaper:202509 |
| By: | Akinwehinmi, Oluwagbenga; Colen, Liesbeth; Caputo, Vincenzina |
| Keywords: | Research Methods/ Statistical Methods |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea26:404517 |
| By: | Andrea Vismara; Rafael Prieto-Curiel; Rosie Hayward |
| Abstract: | In 2025, bilateral foreign aid was reduced by 23%, affecting more than 130 aid recipient countries. We assess whether debt service relief or remittance increases can match the USD 26 billion in aid losses. Using a network-shock model calibrated to bilateral donors' individual cuts, we estimate recipient-country aid losses and evaluate compensation feasibility in terms of annual debt service payments that would need to be cancelled and remittance capacity (the headroom between flows and a theoretical maximum in which every working-age migrant sends funds) mobilised to financially offset them. We find that 18% external debt service relief and 10% of remittance mobilisation could compensate half of the affected countries. However, some countries remain locked out of either or both mechanisms. A fundamental trade-off in the global financial architecture emerged for large aid-cut losers: countries positioned to benefit from debt service relief lack large international diaspora networks (limiting their capacity to increase remittances), while those with established diaspora channels face structural exclusion of traditional debt markets, rendering debt service relief ineffective. These insights introduce nuance in how alternative finance sources can replace foreign aid. |
| Date: | 2026–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2608.21843 |
| By: | Oded Galor; Marc Klemp; Daniel C. Wainstock |
| Abstract: | What gave rise to the mosaic of cultural expressions across the globe? Why are some societies more culturally diverse than others? This study develops a unified theory of cultural evolution, characterizing the forces that have governed this process over the course of human existence. The research advances the hypothesis that population movements and socioeconomic transformations generated a mismatch between inherited cultural traits and prevailing ecological and societal conditions, setting in motion an evolutionary process governed by adaptation-based vertical transmission, horizontal diffusion, and fitness-based evolutionary selection. The theory generates novel testable predictions concerning the origins of the global cultural mosaic and the cross-societal variation in cultural diversity. First, greater ecological distance between ancestral environments generated greater cultural distance across societies. Second, prehistoric differences in ancestral diversity contributed to divergent adaptive capacity and greater cultural distance. Third, societies descended from more diverse prehistoric populations exhibit greater cultural diversity despite convergence induced by adaptation to a common environment and societal norms. Drawing on measures of cultural distance and diversity derived from folkloric and musical traditions among ethnic groups, visual representations of common concepts, and the dispersion of norms, values, and attitudes, the empirical analysis lends credence to the predictions of the theory. |
| JEL: | O10 Z10 |
| Date: | 2026–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:35656 |
| By: | Thomas Buser (University of Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | A large experimental literature shows that when given the choice between individual per- formance incentives and competitive incentives, men are typically more likely than women to choose competition. This finding of a robust gender difference in willingness to compete has sparked much follow-up research into the causes and consequences of individual and gender differences in willingness to compete. The aim of this chapter is to summarize these different strands of research and draw conclusions on what we can learn from them. I conclude that there is strong evidence that – underlying individual differences in willingness to compete – there is a “competitiveness†trait that is not well-captured by other traits and preferences, and somewhat less conclusive evidence that there is a gender difference in this trait. Willingness to compete – and the gender gap therein – varies strongly across countries, cultures and social contexts, suggesting that it can be influenced by them. Nevertheless, while the magnitude of the gender gap varies across contexts, men are more competitive than women in most countries and settings, suggesting that biology might play a role as well. Finally, there are strong indications that individual differences in preferences for competition are economically relevant: competitiveness predicts important life choices and labor market outcomes and can statistically explain gender differences in career outcomes. |
| JEL: | D91 J16 J24 |
| Date: | 2026–09–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20260063 |