Blockchain as a Decentralized Mechanism for Financial Inclusion and Economic Mobility

John Conley

No 19-00012, Vanderbilt University Department of Economics Working Papers from Vanderbilt University Department of Economics

Abstract: The World Bank's mission is to end extreme poverty and increase shared prosperity. A key driver for this is increasing financial and social inclusion, especially for poor and marginalized populations. Essential first steps to achieving these goals are providing providing official identities to the estimated one billion or more displaced and impoverished people who do not at present possess them, and bringing the even larger number of unbanked and under-banked out of the shadow economy and into the formal sector. This paper explores how blockchain fits in as a key enabling technology to achieve these goals while at the same time protecting the privacy and security of vulnerable populations. We also discuss the role blockchain could play in empowering people to obtain fair value for their skills and efforts, even in environments with weak or corrupt institutions.

Keywords: Blockchain; Financial Inclusion; Economic Mobility; KYC; AML; Fintech; Decentralized Identity; Biometrics; Privacy; Distributed Business Processes; Smart Cities; IoT; Civil Society (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G2 O3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019-08-17
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-fle and nep-pay
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