1. Informal Finance: FAI's Executive Director Jonathan Morduch discusses what makes informal finance so popular and how financial institutions can respond. NextBillion
2. Cash Transfers: Electronic payments are a fast and effective way to administer cash transfer programs. But what about in failed states, where the lack of infrastructure means driving large piles of cash around to beneficiaries? The Guardian
3. Wealth Inequality: "The fact that 42 percent of African-American Americans between the ages of 25 and 55 had student loan debt in 2013 (compared to 28 percent of whites) reflects a vicious cycle: families’ lower wealth compels students to take on debt, but that debt then hurts their overall wealth well into adulthood." PBS Newshour
Week of February 9, 2015
1. Microfinance: A look at the microfinance industry's rebuilding efforts in a post-Ebola West Africa. Devex
2. Unbanked: In what sounds similar to a time-compressed version of this experiment, Accion Venture Lab's Managing Director reports on his experience of being unbanked for a day. Medium
3. Development Valentines: Every February, Love is in the air...and on Twitter. Storify
Week of February 2, 2015
1. Mobile Banking: Rural customers in India rely on local bank agents and business correspondents to open new accounts. But the requirement (and cost incurred) for holding cash to cover withdrawals during busy periods is not worth the banking agents' while. Could mobile money pose a solution? The Economist
2. Microcredit: What happens when microcredit clients default? The answer depends mostly on where they live. Smart Campaign
3. Regulation and Development: Hernando de Soto played a major role in putting property rights on the development agenda. Planet Money profiles him, where his ideas came from, and the impact they've had. NPR's Planet Money
Week of January 26, 2015
1. Savings Groups: Forty-two percent of the 500 savings groups surveyed across five countries report linkages to a formal financial institution and the remaining 58 percent indicated "a strong interest" in linking to a bank account. The MasterCard Foundation
2. US Household Finance: New research shows 55 percent of American households have less than one month of income in savings, just under half spend more than they make, and 8 percent have debt payments equal to 41 percent or more of their gross monthly income. Pew Charitable Trusts
3. Poverty: How NYC transit cards are like paper towels - and what that means for the economics of being poor. WNYC
Week of January 19, 2015
1. The Gates Letter: The Gates Foundation, while relatively small in the universe of global development, has begun to play an agenda-influencing role. One of their areas of focus is mobile banking and payments. Quartz tells us more. Chris Blattman continues his tradition of grading the entire letter. The Washington Post
2. Mobile Money: But new technologies also bring new risks. Reports from Kenya show a proliferation of digital fraud - the "Nigerian e-mail scam for the Mobile Age." Christian Science Monitor
3. Credit Scores: The New York Times profiles big data alternatives to credit scoring models. Meanwhile, David Porteous and Ignacio Mas remind us that debt repayment history is a relatively new tool used as a “test of character…summarized in a three-digit score”. They suggest avoiding single prescriptions and enabling multiple (formal and informal) avenues for credit access. NextBillion
Week of January 12, 2015
1. Microcredit: At long last, many of the microcredit evaluations we've been talking about for the last few years are officially published. The new issue of AEJ: Appliedincludes six evaluations of microcredit and an overview from Abhijeet Banerjee, Dean Karlan, and Jonathan Zinman. (Ungated versions of the papers are available at each of the authors' websites.) American Economic Journal
2. Medical Debt: Nonprofit hospitals across the U.S. often use debt collection agencies to sue patients who can't or don't pay their bills, creating a compounded financial burden of legal fees and garnished wages for low-income patients. ProPublica
3. Mobile Money: Recently developments show Pakistan's new year's resolution might be to move from over-the-counter mobile transactions via agents to individual account expansion. CGAP
Week of December 8, 2014
1. Poverty in the U.S.: “It’s assumed that we’re not unstable because we’re poor, we’re poor because we’re unstable. So let’s just talk about how impossible it is to keep your life from spiraling out of control when you have no financial cushion whatsoever.” Slate
2. Agricultural Loans: Forgiveness of agricultural loans has been a common occurrence in India. it's about to happen again. But who gets the benefits and what happens after? Bloomberg
3. Cash Transfers: Evidence is building for positive impact of both unconditional cash transfers and graduation models for the ultra-poor. How do you decide between the two? NextBillion
Week of December 1, 2014
1. Mobile Technology: Privacy and other regulatory concerns have limited access to mobile communications metadata useful for public health. Is there a path forward? Brookings
2. Savings: "After years of relative neglect from proponents of 'financial inclusion,' why are [ROSCAs] now getting the attention they deserve?" CFI
3. Cash Transfers*: Are cash transfer evaluations doing enough to measure community-level tensions? IRIN News
Week of November 17, 2014
1. E-Payments: Electronic vouchers and mobile money may be a fast, cheap way to transfer funds in some parts of the developing world but when digital infrastructure is weak (like in the DRC), old fashioned cash may be the best option. Mercy Corps
2. Financial Inclusion: Bangladesh's central bank is dropping the requirement of a guardian's signature and lowering bank account fees in hopes of bringing 7.4 million working children into the formal financial system. The Guardian
3. SMEs: Shifting the focus from regulations to actual transaction costs (gathered from local firm owners) could provide a richer, more accurate picture for The World Bank's annual Doing Business report. Policy Innovations
Week of November 10, 2014
1. Mobile Money: Ignacio Mas thinks allowing independent cash in/cash out agents would be a huge boost to mobile money. Would loosening regulations spur mobile money take-up and innovation? NextBillion
2. SDGs: Is full financial inclusion a means or an end? The Guardian
3. Financial Inclusion: Peru, Colombia, and the Philippines top The Global Microscope 2014's list of the most conducive environments for financial inclusion. The Economist Intelligence Unit
