Perceived Social Acceptance and Migrants’ Financial Inclusion

Giorgia Barboni, Nicolás de Roux and Santiago Perez-Cardona
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Giorgia Barboni: Warwick Business School, Warwick University
Santiago Perez-Cardona: University of Chicago

CAGE Online Working Paper Series from Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE)

Abstract: We conducted a telephonic survey experiment with 2,115 Venezuelan migrants to examine how their perceptions of Colombian’s social acceptance influence their engagement with the financial system. We find that 66% of the subjects we interviewed underestimate the extent to which natives are open towards migrants. We then show that providing accurate information reduces belief errors by 23 percentage points. This correction increases migrants’ willingness to interact with the financial system. In particular, individuals who initially underestimated Colombian’s acceptance of migrants are 15% more likely to visit a bank and request financial information in the next two months relative to the control group. These individuals also show a 12% increase in the willingness to open a digital wallet and an 18% increase in the willingness to open a savings account. These effects are concentrated among individuals who have not experienced episodes of discrimination in Colombia. We find no effects on the willingness to apply for a loan or an insurance product, consistent with the idea that supply barriers play a significant role for the financial inclusion of vulnerable populations. Using an instrumental variable strategy, we show that the increased willingness to engage with the financial system is driven by belief updating. In a short follow-up survey six months later, we find that belief corrections persist over time, and while we are underpowered to detect significant behavioral effects, the patterns remain consistent with the baseline results. Our findings highlight that misperceptions about native’s social acceptance of migrants can drive self-exclusion from the financial system.

Keywords: Financial Inclusion; Migration; Beliefs; Social Acceptance JEL Classification: G51; D91; F22; D83 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-exp, nep-fle, nep-mig and nep-pay
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cge:wacage:745

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