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on Microfinance |
| By: | Mckenzie,David J.; Mohpal,Aakash; Yang,Dean |
| Abstract: | A randomized experiment among poor entrepreneurs tested the impact of exogenously inducing higher financial aspirations. In theory, raising aspirations could have positive effects by inducing higher effort, but could also reduce effort if unmet aspirations lead to frustration. Treatment resulted in more ambitious savings goals, but nearly all individuals fell far short of reaching these goals. Two years later, treated individuals had not saved more, and actually had lower borrowing and business investments. Treatment also reduced belief in the amount of control over one’s life. Setting aspirations too high can lead to frustration, leading individuals to reduce their economic investments. |
| Keywords: | Educational Sciences,Inequality,Rural Microfinance and SMEs,Microfinance,Financial Sector Policy,Financial Literacy |
| Date: | 2021–03–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9586&r=mfd |
| By: | Premand,Patrick; Stoeffler,Quentin |
| Abstract: | Policy makers are increasingly interested in strategies to promote resilience and mitigate the effects of future climatic shocks. Cash transfer programs have had widely documented positive welfare impacts. They often also aim to offer protection against shocks, but their role in fostering resilience has been less studied. This paper assesses whether the beneficiaries of a multiyear government cash transfer program in rural Niger are better able to mitigate the welfare effects of drought shocks. It analyzes mechanisms through which cash transfers contribute to resilience, such as savings facilitation, asset accumulation, or income smoothing in agriculture and off-farm activities. It combines household survey data collected as part of a randomized control trial with satellite data used to identify exogenous rainfall shocks. The results show that cash transfers increase household consumption by about 10 percent on average. Importantly, this increase is mostly concentrated among households affected by drought shocks, for whom welfare impacts are larger than transfer amounts. Cash transfers increase savings. They also help households protect earnings in agriculture and off-farm businesses when shocks occur. Few differences in household durables or livestock are observed. Overall, these findings suggest that cash transfer programs targeting poor households can foster resilience by facilitating savings and income smoothing. |
| Keywords: | Disability,Access of Poor to Social Services,Economic Assistance,Services&Transfers to Poor,Inequality,Natural Disasters,Nutrition,Food Security |
| Date: | 2020–11–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9473&r=mfd |
| By: | Chen,Rong - DECIG |
| Abstract: | Mobile technologies show great potential to accelerate internet access and usage, especially in developing countries. A better understanding of key drivers and main constraints for mobile internet access is the first prerequisite for governments to design targeted policy solutions. This study exploits a household survey that collects information on information and communications technology access and usage at the household and individual levels in 22 countries in the Global South. The study finds that in addition to infrastructure investment, which has been the main focus of many developing countries, other demand-side factors are of critical importance. Across the developing world, females, the elderly, those who live in rural areas, and those who have a relatively low level of income or education are less likely to adopt mobile internet. Social network effects are found to have a significant positive impact on the usage of mobile internet. Those who have more close friends using an online social network are more likely to adopt mobile internet. Individuals whose five closest friends are using an online social network (such as Facebook or Twitter) are 63.1 percent more likely to adopt it than those without any close friends using such online social network sites/apps. Across regions, although the factors affecting the adoption of mobile internet remain largely the same, the magnitudes of their impacts vary. In Asia, gender differences are negatively associated with mobile internet. In Africa, the impact of education level is more salient than in the other two regions, implying an urgent need to improve digital literacy. |
| Keywords: | Educational Sciences,Information Technology,Telecommunications Infrastructure,Energy Policies&Economics,Gender and Development |
| Date: | 2021–03–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:9590&r=mfd |
| By: | Úbeda, Fernando; Mendez, Alvaro; Martínez, Francisco Javier Forcadell |
| Abstract: | Lack of access to banking generates inequality in the developing world; therefore, financial inclusion is a crucial objective of the Sustainable Development Goals. We investigate the impact of sustainable practices of multinational banks (MNBs) on financial inclusion. A sample of 275 MNBs, 16 developing countries, and 16,618 individuals yield robust evidence confirming the positive effect of such practices on financial inclusion. Specifically, we find that as MNBs become sustainable, the use of mobile banking intensifies. This finding is consequential because mobile banking is one of the most powerful means to achieve financial inclusion in the developing world. |
| Keywords: | sustainable banking; multinational banks; financial inclusion; mobile banking; sustainable development goal; Elsevier deal |
| JEL: | G00 G20 G21 Q01 Q56 D63 |
| Date: | 2022–08–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:116428&r=mfd |
| By: | Rogelio V. Mercado, Jr. (South East Asian Central Banks (SEACEN) Research and Training Centre); Victor Pontines (South East Asian Central Banks (SEACEN) Research and Training Centre) |
| Abstract: | This paper employs Bayesian model averaging (BMA) and uses posterior inclusion probability (PIP) values to evaluate which financial inclusion indicators, dimensions, and other determinants of income inequality should be considered in an empirical specification assessing the relationship between financial inclusion and income inequality, given model uncertainty. The results show that for the low-income country group, financial access and usage indicators and dimensions are the most relevant indicators. Unfortunately, nowhere in our baseline results and in almost all our sensitivity tests do we find PIP values higher than our set threshold value for any of our financial depth indicators and dimension. These results suggest that theoretical models linking financial inclusion nd income inequality could well focus on the role of financial access and usage by providing theoretical foundations on the mechanics as to how these two dimensions of financial inclusion impact income inequality. |
| Keywords: | Bayesian model averaging, financial inclusion, income inequality, Bayesian inference |
| JEL: | C11 C52 O15 O16 |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sea:wpaper:wp47&r=mfd |