Measuring financial inclusion in the main euro area countries: the role of electronic cards

Giorgio Nuzzo () and Stefano Piermattei
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Giorgio Nuzzo: Bank of Italy

No 504, Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) from Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area

Abstract: Since financial inclusion has become a policy target in many countries, it is crucial to measure it properly. The usual indexes of financial inclusion include inappropriate variables and do not take into account other relevant aspects, thus misrepresenting the phenomenon. In this paper, we focus on the distribution of electronic cards, generally not included in the usual indexes of financial inclusion even if they provide alternatives to usual saving practices and make transactions across larger markets and wider geographic areas less costly. We show that if we also take account of these instruments, the comparative valuation of the degree of financial inclusion across the main euro-area countries changes substantially. We also employ survey data to analyse cross-country differences in the degree of financial inclusion and the distribution of multidimensional deprivations of specific sub-groups of populations.

Keywords: financial inclusion; payment instruments; electronic cards (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G20 G41 I22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-fle and nep-pay
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_504_19

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