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on Microfinance |
| By: | Ge Sun; Weisheng Zhang |
| Abstract: | Sampled network data are common in empirical research because collecting full network information is costly, but using sampled networks can lead to biased estimates. We propose a nonparametric imputation method for sampled networks and show that empirical analysis based on imputed networks yields consistent parameter estimates. Our approach imputes missing network links by combining a projection onto covariates with a local two-way fixed-effects regression, which avoids parametric assumptions, does not rely on low-rank restrictions, and flexibly accommodates both observed covariates and unobserved heterogeneity. We establish entrywise convergence rates for the imputed matrix and prove the consistency of GMM estimators based on the imputed network. We further derive the convergence rate of the corresponding estimator in the linear-in-means peer-effects model. Simulations show strong performance of our method both in terms of imputation accuracy and in downstream empirical analysis. We illustrate our method with an application to the microfinance network data of Banerjee et al. (2013). |
| Date: | 2026–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2604.03171 |
| By: | E. Bonhoure (Kedge BS - Kedge Business School); R. Bawack (Audencia Business School) |
| Abstract: | Despite extensive research linking financial inclusion to sustainable development goals (SDGs), a holistic review of this body of knowledge is still lacking. We used bibliometric methods to identify progress and gaps in this research stream to fill this gap. We propose a holistic conceptual framework of financial inclusion, decomposed into five conceptual blocks: digital and non-digital finance, financial services, and individual-level and systemic factors. The results show that current financial inclusion literature contributes mainly to 6 of the 17 SDGs, with the rest being relatively under-researched. |
| Keywords: | financial inclusion, sustainable development goals, bibliometric, review, digital finance |
| Date: | 2024–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04828293 |
| By: | Kelle Howson; Siyanda Baduza; Thato Setambule; Thobani Khumalo; Anda David (AFD - Agence française de développement); Cecilia Poggi (AFD - Agence française de développement) |
| Abstract: | Approximately half of the target population is excluded from a South African social assistance programme intended to provide income support to working-age adults—the Covid 19 Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant. To date research has not systematically investigated the drivers and mechanisms by which this exclusion occurs, nor the impacts of exclusion on the lives of affected persons. This study fills this gap by presenting the results of a survey of 900 people in the target population group who had experienced exclusion from the SRD grant in at least one month of a three-month reference period, and who nevertheless were living below the country's upper-bound poverty line (unable to meet their basic needs). Our survey data is complemented by 58 in-depth interviews which elicit further insight into subjective experiences of exclusion. We find that a significant majority of our respondents (an average of 76% each month) met the eligibility criteria for the grant and thus were erroneously excluded. Exclusion occurred as a result of barriers to: application, accurate verification of eligibility via proxy-means testing, receiving payments after having been approved, and successfully appealing incorrect decisions. These barriers stemmed in large part from the rapid digitalisation and automation of the grant system without adequate transparency, oversight and accountability. We found that people who experienced existing forms of marginalisation, including digital exclusion, financial exclusion, gender inequality, spatial inequality, lack of access to identification documents, and immigration status, were most vulnerable to erroneous exclusion from the grant. In addition we found that exclusion from the grant resulted in severe hardship and hunger, as well as undermining livelihood activities and reinforcing a poverty trap. We propose a series of concrete policy recommend-dations to address unfair exclusion in the SRD grant system—but note that meaning-fully addressing exclusion is contingent on the adequate resourcing of the programme. |
| Keywords: | Social assistance, welfare exclusions, targeted social assistance, digital barriers in welfare, South African social grants, Social relief Aide sociale |
| Date: | 2025–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05489761 |