Week of February 15, 2016

1. Financial Inclusion: FAI's Executive Director Jonathan Morduch discusses what the fight against poverty in the US can learn from the developing world and vice versa. Stanford Social Innovation Review

2. Racial Wealth Gap: "A quarter of black children will make less than 80 percent of what their parents did, meaning that even in this expanding economy with higher earnings, as adults they are not just worse off relatively, but objectively. Put simply, retaining middle class status is more difficult for black families across generations." Urban Institute

3. Consumer Protection: Customer protection initiatives like the Smart Campaign seek to protect the interests of microfinance clients.  But how would customers define good and bad lending practices? A new compilation of client feedback seeks to find out. Center for Financial Inclusion

4. Remittances: In the digital age, it's now easier and faster to send money around the world. But how do customers use these remittance services? What are the long-term benefits of lower prices? Understanding user and regulatory behavior may be the next phase for innovation in digital transfers. NextBillion

5. Financial Diaries: Preliminary findings from the Zambia Financial Diaries show a wide range of income sources for participants in the same socio-economic and demographic groups, indicating the need for customer behavior research when developing financial products. Microfinance Opportunity