Cross-country variation in financial inclusion: a global perspective

Mais Sha'ban, Claudia Girardone and Anna Sarkisyan

The European Journal of Finance, 2020, vol. 26, issue 4-5, 319-340

Abstract: Recent years have witnessed a global commitment to advancing financial inclusion as a key enabler for promoting equal opportunity and reducing poverty. In this paper, we use the IMF’s Financial Access Survey data and two different approaches to construct a multidimensional financial inclusion index for a global sample of 95 countries over 2004-15. Results reveal an overall progress in financial inclusion over the period under study, most markedly in the use and access dimensions. Financial inclusion appears to be positively and significantly associated with GDP per capita, employment, bank competition, human development, government integrity, and internet usage. Our evidence also points to the importance of considering the level of national income when designing policies to boost financial inclusion.

Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (30)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/1351847X.2019.1686709 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

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:taf:eurjfi:v:26:y:2020:i:4-5:p:319-340

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/REJF20

DOI: 10.1080/1351847X.2019.1686709

Access Statistics for this article

The European Journal of Finance is currently edited by Chris Adcock

More articles in The European Journal of Finance from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().