In 2009, FAI founder Jonathan Morduch was part of a group that determined “half the world is unbanked.” Ten years later, the latest Global Findex tells us that the world’s unbanked population has been nearly cut in half. A combination of focused public and private efforts, aided by technology advances, yielded massive, though uneven, progress. It’s worth celebrating the gains, but also reflecting on what is still left to do. What lessons have we learned from the last 20 years that can close the rest of the inclusion gap? Why has inclusion in wealthier countries stalled? What does the inclusion agenda leave undone? How can technology be part of building more bridges to excluded communities?
This edition of the faiVLive was based on a new report from the Aspen Institute’s Financial Security Program, Building An Inclusive Financial System, that tackles those questions and more.
Read MoreIn this edition of the faiVLive, with a group of expert panelists from around the world, we delve into the possibilities for FinTech to serve the poor and reduce inequality. Six years after McKinsey heralded “a new era of digital globalization,” what have we learned about when, and where, FinTech meaningfully advances inclusion, and when it creates a new (digital) divide? When does FinTech (in the words of Greg Chen of CGAP, during this edition of the faiVLive) build a bridge and when does it dig a moat?
Read MoreEditor's Note: When people (OK, a person; Hi Jeff!) starts checking on your safety since it's been so long since you've written the faiV, it's definitely time to bend the dimensions of space and time and finally get another one out. The last faiV turned into an extended rant on financial literacy. Here's a long overdue post on why I'm not convinced by the latest systematic review of finlit interventions, which claims evidence of impact on behavior.
–Tim Ogden
1. Digital Finance: First things first. The next faiVLive is coming up on June 23rd, and the topic will be the FinTech Expectations Gap. What's that you ask? Well, it comes from my obsession with the Great Convergence and domains where perceptions aren't converging. FinTech is one of those places. I've noticed that, in general, FinTech innovation is generally viewed as pro-poor in developing countries, but very skeptically in wealthier countries. So I'll be moderating a discussion of whether that's accurate, if those perceptions are justified, and whether there is a holistic framework for assessing whether digital finance innovations are pro-poor that applies across contexts. Joining me will be Yinka David-West, Tim Flacke, Tavneet Suri, Barbara Magnoni and Lois Bruu. Join us.
Read MoreEditor's Note: I didn't start writing this faiV as an extended rant about financial literacy. It just sort of happened.
Read MoreIn countries across the world, women earn less than men. This is true not only for wage-paying jobs, but also for the earnings of micro and small businesses, which play a prominent role in most economies. Women-led businesses are less profitable than their male counterparts, have fewer employees, and are less likely to grow. In this webinar, we discuss what we have learned form research and experience that can help policymakers, financial service providers, and other organizations better meet the needs of women, and close gender gaps in small firms.
Read MoreEditor's Note: TL;DR: The faiV has been missing because of a combination of launching a big new research project and some changes that we'll be making based on feedback from readers, but I'm back now.
Also, register here for the next faiVLive, "Accounting for the Gender Profit Gap" with Nava Ashraf, Morgan Hardy and others on March 2nd.
–Tim Ogden
Read MoreThis edition of faiVLive—co-presented with the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program, brought together researchers and practitioners to look at how short-term savings work and don’t work, with a particular eye to whether and how savings for low-income households can be boosted.
Read MoreEditor's Note: There are several webinar links below, but let me start with a couple that are upcoming and worthy of note. On October 28th, we'll have the next edition of the faiVLive, focused on savings—specifically, what we've learned about how poor households save, and how much we still don't know about how to effectively support savings. I'll be joined by Jonathan, as well as Jessica Goldberg (development economist at UMd), Gen Melford (Aspen Institute's Financial Security Program), and Jonathan Lee (Neighborhood Trust Financial Partners). As the guest list implies we'll be talking about this from both a US and developing country perspective. Register here.
Also, if you're from the development wing of the faiV readership, don't forget to register for virtual NEUDC, coming up November 6 and 7.
Since so many of you were very interested in my links questioning resilience a few weeks back, and since I don't have space for another item in this edition, here's what looks like a great new paper: A Scoping Review of the Development Resilience Literature: Theory, Methods and Evidence (short version: resilience is too ill-defined as yet to be all that useful).
Oh, and I missed you.
–Tim Ogden
Read MoreEditor's Note: Of particular note, this Tuesday (September 15th) at 10am Eastern there is a special edition of faiVLive in Spanish covering Digital Financial Services in Latin America. I'll be hosting with Gabriela Zapata moderating, and Kiki DelValle, Barbara Magnoni, and Xavier Faz will be joining us. Register here.
I apologize in advance if the final links on resilience undermine your resilience at the beginning of the week.
–Tim Ogden
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