1. Savings: FAI affiliate Ignacio Mas challenges us to step back from usage data and rethink how we approach the development of savings products for the poor. Center for Financial Inclusion
2. Behavioral Economics: According to Helaine Olen, Americans' financial woes have "more to do with the outside economy than their inner psyche." Bloomberg
3. Payments: New research presents findings on who is using prepaid debit cards and why. One suprising finding? it's not necessarily the unbanked - 7 in 8 users have or previously had a checking account. The Pew Charitable Trusts
4. Remittances: The latest report on remittance prices shows the global average cost of sending money is 8.36% - a new all-time low. The World Bank
5. Research Methods: How to tell if measuring impact is valuable or if you're just going through the (costly) motions. Standford Social Innovation Review
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.