Should the fourth industrial revolution be widespread or confined geographically? A country-level analysis of fintech economies

Zhilun Jiao, Muhammad Shehryar Shahid, Nawazish Mirza and Zhixiong Tan

Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 2021, vol. 163, issue C

Abstract: One of the major beneficiaries of the fourth industrial revolution is fintech. However, despite the unprecedented growth of, investment in, and returns generated by this sector, a conducive environment and fintech support ecosystem is essential to exploit the true potential of fintech. The biggest challenge for many governments across the globe is not only setting priorities in which fintech services to invest (e.g., digital wallets, peer-to-peer lending, e-insurances) but also in which geographical area to invest. Since technology is independent of physical interaction and geographical confinement, governments face a dilemma: keep fintech growth geographically diverse or concentrated within a few cities. This study evaluates the fintech success of countries with its spread in different cities and attempts to formulate a policy direction to accelerate the wave of the fourth industrial revolution. Our results suggest that rather than a widespread presence, countries should concentrate their efforts, investment, and attention to developing a fintech ecosystem in fewer cities to facilitate them as much as possible. This concentrated effort could help countries improve their Global Fintech Scores and specialize in specific core areas.

Keywords: Fintech; 4ir; Geographical concentration; Regulations; Agglomeration; Distribution (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G23 G28 O33 R58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040162520312683
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:tefoso:v:163:y:2021:i:c:s0040162520312683

DOI: 10.1016/j.techfore.2020.120442

Access Statistics for this article

Technological Forecasting and Social Change is currently edited by Fred Phillips

More articles in Technological Forecasting and Social Change from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().