Financial Inclusion, Poverty, and Income Inequality in Developing Asia
Understanding the link between financial inclusion, poverty, and income inequality at the country level will help policymakers design and implement programs that will broaden access to financial services.
This paper presents a broad-based financial inclusion indicator to assess various macroeconomic and country-specific factors affecting the degree of financial inclusion for 37 selected developing Asian economies. Using the newly constructed financial inclusion indicator, this paper finds that per capita income, rule of law, and demographic structure are highly correlated with financial inclusion. Empirical findings also show that financial inclusion is significantly associated with lower poverty and income inequality in the region.
Contents
- Abstract
- Introduction
- Related Literature
- Financial Inclusion Indicator
- Empirical Methodology and Data Sources
- Empirical Results
- Summary and Policy Implications
- References