nep-fle New Economics Papers
on Financial Literacy and Education
Issue of 2023‒07‒31
four papers chosen by



  1. Effect of gender equality on financial stability and financial inclusion By Ozili, Peterson K
  2. Financial Literacy and Mortgage Payment Delinquency? By Tran Huynh
  3. Impact of monetary policy on financial inclusion in emerging markets By Ozili, Peterson K
  4. Mobile money innovations and health performance in sub-Saharan Africa By Simplice A. Asongu; Yolande E. Ngoungou; Joseph Nnanna

  1. By: Ozili, Peterson K
    Abstract: Little attention has been paid to the role of gender equality in promoting financial stability and financial inclusion. This article examines the effect of gender equality on financial stability and financial inclusion for 14 developing countries using yearly data from 2005 to 2021. The findings reveal that gender equality has a significant positive effect on financial stability and financial inclusion in developing countries. Gender equality has a significant positive effect on financial stability and financial inclusion in African countries. Gender equality has a significant positive effect on financial stability but not for financial inclusion in non-African countries.
    Keywords: gender equality, gender inequality, financial inclusion, financial stability, access to finance, ZSCORE, bank branches.
    JEL: G21
    Date: 2023–04–02
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:117805&r=fle
  2. By: Tran Huynh (Friedrich Schiller University Jena)
    Abstract: This study investigates the causal effect of financial literacy on mortgage payment delinquency. Using an Instrumental-Variable (IV) approach, we find that increased financial literacy significantly reduces the probability of mortgage delinquency. The identified causal effect is robust to different specifications of the IV and cannot be explained by formal education, income, and many other individual characteristics. Our study also examines the heterogeneity of the impact across various demographic groups. We find that the effect of financial literacy on delinquency likelihood is negative and significantly different from zero for any age, gender, income, or education level. However, the magnitude of the effect decreases with age and is higher in states where the population’s financial literacy is low, as compared with high-literate states.
    Keywords: financial literacy, mortgage delinquency, NFCS surveys, instrumental variables
    JEL: G51 G53
    Date: 2023–07–04
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2023-007&r=fle
  3. By: Ozili, Peterson K
    Abstract: The study investigates the impact of monetary policy on the level of financial inclusion in the big-five emerging market countries from 2004 to 2020. Several indicators of financial inclusion and the central bank interest rate were used in the analysis. It was found that the monetary pol-icy rate has a mixed effect on financial inclusion, and the effect depends on the dimension of fi-nancial inclusion examined. Specifically, a high monetary policy rate has a significant negative impact on financial inclusion through a reduction in the number of depositors in commercial banks. A high monetary policy rate also has a significant positive impact on financial inclusion through greater bank branch expansion. The policy implication is that both contractionary and expansionary monetary policies lead to positive improvements in specific indicators of financial inclusion, because increase in interest rate leads to bank branch expansion which is beneficial for financial inclusion and decrease in interest rate leads to increase in the number of depositors in commercial banks which is also beneficial for financial inclusion. It was also found that the rising monetary policy rate has a negative effect on all indicators of financial inclusion in the post-financial crisis period. Overall, the effect of monetary policy on financial inclusion seem to depend on the monetary policy tool used by the monetary authority and the dimension of financial inclusion examined. The monetary authorities should pay attention to how their monetary policy choices might affect the level of financial inclusion and reduce the benefits that society gains from financial inclusion.
    Keywords: monetary policy, interest rate, financial inclusion, access to finance, emerging markets
    JEL: E51 E52 E58 G21
    Date: 2023–06–19
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:117804&r=fle
  4. By: Simplice A. Asongu (Yaounde, Cameroon); Yolande E. Ngoungou (Yaoundé, Cameroon); Joseph Nnanna (The Development Bank of Nigeria, Abuja, Nigeria)
    Abstract: This study assesses nexuses between mobile money innovations and health performance in terms of total life expectancy in 43 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa employing data for the period 2004-2018. Four mobile money innovation dynamics are proxied with registered mobile money agents and active mobile money agents. The empirical evidence is based on quantile regressions. The findings overwhelmingly show that mobile money innovations are relevant in improving health performance or total life expectancy exclusively in bottom quantiles of the conditional distribution of total life expectancy. In other words, countries with below-median levels of total life expectancy are more susceptible to benefit from mobile money innovations compared to countries with above-median levels of total life expectancy. It follows that common or general policy measures on the linkage between mobile money innovations and health performance are unlikely to succeed unless attendant policies are contingent on initial levels of health performance and hence, tailored differently across countries with various initial levels of health performance. More policy implications are discussed.
    Keywords: Mobile phones; financial inclusion; health; sub-Saharan Africa
    JEL: O40 G20 I10 I32 I20
    Date: 2023–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:agd:wpaper:23/038&r=fle

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