1. Digital Payments: Facebook is finalizing preparations to begin offering financial services to its users, allowing them to store and exchange money. CNBC
2. Remittances: A new report on the impact of remittance fees on Africa's development investment claims that reducing charges to 5% would increase transfers to the continent by $1.8 billion annually. Overseas Development Institute
3. Financial Inclusion: The next generation of ATM innovations (sending money to someone, paying bills, and loading a portion of a check) may not require a bank account and could potentially provide alternative financial services to the unbanked. American Banker
4. Behavioral Economics: What's next as behavioral economics matures? Is it a unique field that can inspire innovative policies or just "economics plus common sense"? TimHarford.com
5. Credit: David Roodman reviews The Economist's recent coverage of a new World Bank working paper by Shahidur R. Khandker and Hussain A. Samad on the dynamics of microcredit in Bangladesh. David Roodman.com
Ten years ago, FAI managing director Tim Ogden published Experimental Conversations, a collection of interviews with economists and other people who critique, promote, and use randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in development economics. One of the interviewees was Michael Kremer, a pioneer of the movement, now a Nobel laureate, and recently appointed Chief Economist of the World Bank.