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on Financial Literacy and Education |
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Issue of 2026–03–23
five papers chosen by Viviana Di Giovinazzo, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca |
| By: | Atinyo, Divine; Ababio, Kofi Agyarko; Danquah, Benjamin Adjei; Tweneboah, George |
| Abstract: | This study systematically reviewed empirical evidence on the role of mobile money in advancing financial inclusion and philanthropic impact across Africa and Asia. Based on 47 peer-reviewed studies published between 2010 and 2024, the review examined how mobile money technologies have influenced access to financial services and charitable behaviours. Using the PRISMA framework and the PICOS model, a structured search was conducted across major academic databases. Thematic synthesis revealed five core insights: mobile money enhances financial access for underserved populations; contributes to poverty reduction, gender inclusion, and rural empowerment; faces persistent challenges including infrastructural deficits, regulatory uncertainty, and digital illiteracy; holds emerging potential in philanthropic activities such as crowdfunding and disaster relief; and remains underexamined in the context of integrated financial-philanthropic strategies. Comparative analysis showed that mobile money systems in Africa tend to exhibit broader grassroots adoption and integration into informal economies, while those in Asia are more commonly shaped by centralised governance, formal institutional linkages, and stricter regulatory regimes. Despite regional variations, both contexts illustrate mobile money’s transformative potential. This review is one of the first to explore the intersection of financial inclusion and philanthropy within the mobile money landscape across two continents. By synthesising existing literature, it bridges a noticeable gap in digital finance research and offers practical insights for policymakers, development practitioners, and fintech innovators working toward more inclusive and socially responsive growth. |
| Date: | 2026–03–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:82kzx_v2 |
| By: | Marcos Cerón (Banco Central de Reserva del Perú); Marcelo Paliza (Banco Central de Reserva del Perú); Elmer Sánchez (Banco Central de Reserva del Perú) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the determinants of Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) wallet usage and evaluates the impact of a retail CBDC pilot implemented by the Central Reserve Bank of Peru (BCRP) in regions with low levels of financial inclusion. As of August 2025, the pilot reached approximately 117 thousand active users and 60 thousand participating merchants, while the outstanding balance of CBDC in circulation amounted to about PEN 7.5 million. Focusing on districts with low levels of financial inclusion, the first part of the paper investigates the individual-level determinants of CBDC wallet usage. Survey-based evidence indicates that awareness of the central bank's involvement, satisfaction with the wallet, and the use of other digital wallets are strongly associated with active usage. In contrast, selfemployment is negatively correlated with wallet activity, likely reflecting the closed-loop design of the pilot. In the second part of the paper, we exploit a quasi-experimental setting created by differentiated advertising campaigns across treated and control districts to estimate the effects of the intervention. The results show that the campaign significantly increased merchant adoption. Instrumental-variable estimates further identify merchant participation as a key mechanism driving wallet usage. Overall, the findings highlight the features and policy levers that are critical for the adoption of a retail CBDC, including merchant network expansion, well-targeted advertising campaigns, clear communication about the central bank's involvement and financial incentives. |
| Keywords: | retail CBDC; digital payments; quasi-experimental design |
| JEL: | E42 E58 C26 |
| Date: | 2026–03–19 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gii:giihei:heidwp09-2026 |
| By: | Mahbuba Aktar (Center for Financial Development and Stability at Henan University, and School of Economics at Henan University, Kaifeng, Henan); Makram El-Shagi (Center for Financial Development and Stability at Henan University, and School of Economics at Henan University, Kaifeng, Henan); Florian Gerth (Asian Institute of Management, Philippines) |
| Abstract: | Financial frictions are a key determinant of monetary policy transmission. Using provincial Chinese data for 2011–2019, we examine this question through the lens of regional variation in traditional and digital financial inclusion. We combine high-frequency monetary policy shocks with state-dependent local projections, in- terpreting traditional inclusion as a proxy for liquidity constraints and digital inclusion as a proxy for search frictions. Regions with stronger liquidity constraints exhibit weaker output and price responses, in line with the predictions of New Keynesian models with heterogeneous agents. Lower search frictions instead tend to amplify transmission over medium horizons, though short-run effects are mixed. |
| Keywords: | monetary policy transmission; regional differences; financial frictions; financial inclusion; high-frequency identification |
| JEL: | E5 E4 C2 |
| Date: | 2026–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fds:dpaper:202604 |
| By: | Ambler, Kate; Bakhtiar, M. Mehrab; de Brauw, Alan; Uddin, Mohammad Riad |
| Abstract: | Credit market failures may reflect voluntary withdrawal by risk-averse borrowers in addition to supply-side constraints. We conduct a randomized trial with 1, 517 Bangladeshi households, offering cattle financing through conventional loans or profit-sharing contracts that spread risk between the farmer and the financial partner. Overall, interest in and take-up of the profit-sharing contracts were modestly higher than the conventional loans. However, conventional loan take-up was much lower among risk-averse farmers, and profit-sharing eliminated the take-up gap between risk-averse and non-risk-averse farmers. We find that it is male risk preferences that are associated with these decisions even when contracts explicitly target women. Livestock investment increases under both contracts with no evidence of moral hazard under profit-sharing. |
| Keywords: | gender; credit; financing; livestock; loans; smallholders; financial innovation; access to finance; risk; risk coping strategies; Bangladesh; Southern Asia; Asia |
| Date: | 2026–02–17 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:181679 |
| By: | Patrick Beissner; Tim Boonen; Mario Ghossoub |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the impact of introducing a Rank-Dependent Utility (RDU) agent into a von Neumann-Morgenstern (vNM) pure-exchange economy with no aggregate uncertainty. In the absence of the RDU agent, the classical theory predicts that Pareto-optimal allocations are full-insurance, or no-betting, allocations. We show how the probability weighting function of the RDU agent, seen as a proxy for probabilistic risk aversion that is not captured by marginal utility of wealth, can lead to Pareto optima characterized by endogenous betting, despite common baseline beliefs. Such endogenous betting at an optimum leads to uncertainty-generating trade arising purely from heterogeneity in the perception of risk, rather than in beliefs. Our results formalize the intuitive understanding that probability weighting can act as an endogenous source of belief heterogeneity, and provide a new behavioral foundation for the coexistence of common beliefs and speculative behavior, in an environment with no initial aggregate uncertainty. Interpreting the RDU agent's nonlinear weighting function as an ``internality'' prompts the question of whether a social planner should intervene. We show how a benevolent social planner can nudge the RDU agent to behave closer to a vNM agent, through costly statistical or financial education, thereby (partially) restoring the optimality of full-insurance allocations. |
| Date: | 2026–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2602.24194 |