Over 4 billion people live in cities today, and this rapid urbanization is only expected to grow in the future. For urban residents who leave their rural hometowns seeking better opportunities, money transfers are an important tool to support struggling families back home. A recent experiment by researchers Jean N. Lee, Jonathan Morduch, Saravana Ravindran, Abu Shonchoy, and Hassan Zaman studied the interplay between this rural-to-urban migration in Bangladesh, and the introduction of mobile banking to modernize remittances. They found that with financial technology, urban-to-rural remittances increased by 26%, which also boosted consumption for rural family members. A myriad of benefits come with this, as Tyler Smith of the American Economic Association noted about this study, “...the speed with which money could now travel helped pay for time-sensitive purchases, such as medication and food, especially during the lean season in Bangladesh.”
Read more of AEA’s coverage here.
Editor’s Note: I’m going to assume that you are seeing plenty of AI content (news and papers, not AI slop, though I’m sure you’re getting plenty of that too) from other sources, so I’m trying to think hard about the marginal value that the faiV can provide. As far as I’ve gotten so far: a) make sure that directly AI-related content does not take up more than 2 of the 5 items, and b) try to focus specifically on the cybersecurity issue for financial inclusion. Beyond that, I’m open to feedback on the value you get from the faiV in relation to AI to help guide us in the future. On a different note, I’ll be making a brief cameo appearance at the e-MFP Inclusive Finance Conference to moderate the opening plenary. If you haven’t registered, do so and I hope to see you there! - Tim Ogden