The state of financial inclusion
Over the past six years, the rise in financial inclusion Within the developing world has been impressive. Overall, the share of banked adults rose from 42{5e7f07e14add20b2e04f4edb85a447d3cd8121fc27b809645e9fed603c22cc5c} in 2011 to 55{5e7f07e14add20b2e04f4edb85a447d3cd8121fc27b809645e9fed603c22cc5c} in 2014 to 63{5e7f07e14add20b2e04f4edb85a447d3cd8121fc27b809645e9fed603c22cc5c} in 2017 with India accounting for a disproportionate share of these gains in access due to the unprecedented push by the Indian government for universal adult financial access. Africa remains a laggard and this is of concern argue Cecchetti and Schoenholtz because of its demographics: according to the latest UN report nearly 90{5e7f07e14add20b2e04f4edb85a447d3cd8121fc27b809645e9fed603c22cc5c} of the increase in global population will be in Africa. Mobilizing African savings and providing African entrepreneurs access to global capital will will contribute to the continent’s economic growth and also benefit consumers around the world.
Banking the Masses: 2018 Edition
By: Stephen G. Cecchetti, Kermit L. Schoenholtz – Brandeis University, New York University
Who benefits from microfinance?
Banerjee and al. examine subjects in urban Hyderabad, India, six years after microfinance was randomly introduced to a subset of neighborhoods. They find that the policy yielded benefits when access to microfinance was given to entrepreneurs who already had business. On the contrary, access to microfinance yielded benefits “indistinguishable from zero” to the entrepreneurs without a prior business.
Do Credit Constraints Limit Entrepreneurship? Heterogeneity in the Returns to Microfinance
Authors: Abhijit V. Banerjee, Emily Breza, Esther Duflo, Cynthia Kinnan
From: MIT, Harvard University, Northwestern University
Rethinking microfinance
Cull and Morduch argue that data show that microfinance grew in scale, but a shifted away from the poorest. They suggest an evolution in thinking:
an evolution of thinking:
from microfinance as narrowly construed entrepreneurial finance toward microfinance as broadly construed household finance. In this vision, microfinance yields benefits by providing liquidity for a wide range of needs rather than solely by boosting business income.
Microfinance and economic development
Authors: Robert Cull, Jonathan Morduch
From: World Bank
