How equitable is access to finance in turkey ? evidence from the latest global FINDEX

João Pedro Azevedo (jpazevedo@unicef.org), Osman Inan and Judy Yang

No 7541, Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank

Abstract: Access to finance is a key component of poverty reduction, as it enables individuals to make economic decisions that can improve their welfare. The equality of access among different groups in society is also crucial for correctly allocating the positive benefits of improved financial services. In Turkey, bank account, debit card, and credit card ownership, which can serve as the main indicators of access to finance, are at a remarkably high level. However, adjusting the coverage rate of these indicators by controlling for age, education, gender, an income reveals that gender is the main source of inequality in Turkey at the individual level. Despite the progress made in addressing the gender disparity in access to finance between 2011 and 2014, females in Turkey continue to be financially less included. Moreover, Turkey's low level of savings and high rate of informal borrowing compared with its peers diminish individuals'resilience to future shocks. Promisingly, Turkey has been able to improve its rate of savings significantly over the past few years, although it continues to be among the countries that save at a lower level.

Keywords: Economics and Gender; Gender and Economic Policy; Gender and Economics; Financial Sector and Social Assistance; Gender and Poverty; Inequality; Access to Finance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016-01-28
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ara and nep-cwa
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