What gets measured gets managed? Not always. We tracked the diversity of the sources featured in our faiV newsletter, and here’s what we found. While we still haven’t made up our minds on what the right targets are or how to get there, we are convinced that more people keeping track of and reporting data on these dimensions is an important part of figuring out how to get it right.
Read MoreWhen is FinTech Pro-Poor? Today's faiVLive Reading List and Resources
Welcome to today’s faiVLive Webinar. 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?
We also explore how expectations seem to differ from place to place: while FinTech in developing countries is generally presumed to be pro-poor, in wealthier countries there is more skepticism that digital innovations will advance inclusion for the poorest in society. Why is that? What are appropriate expectations of FinTech innovation? Should we be more skeptical of FinTech in countries with large inclusion gaps? Should we be less skeptical of new business models and tech-enabled services in wealthy countries?
Read MoreRegister now for the next faiVLive
FinTech in developing countries is generally presumed to be pro-poor, while in wealthier countries there is more skepticism that digital innovations will advance inclusion for the poorest in society. Why is that? What are appropriate expectations of FinTech innovation? Should we be more skeptical of FinTech in countries with large inclusion gaps? Should we be less skeptical of new business models and tech-enabled services in wealthy countries? Join Tim Ogden, Managing Director of the Financial Access Initiative, as we discuss the expectations and potential of FinTech to increase inclusion with an expert panel from around the world.
Read MoreGoodbye to Financial Literacy Month
This post is co-authored by Timothy Ogden and Julia Brand.
Why April 2021 should be the last Financial Literacy Month, and what we think should replace it.
Your Gender Profit Gap Questions Answered
What should we measure (besides profits) to better understand business success? Wy do women choose some sectors over others?
Read MoreAre Complaints the True Voice of the Customer?
Complaints – whether expressed on social media or through formal grievance redress channels – are transparent windows into what consumers are thinking and experiencing. They are a critical source of information for protecting consumers, but they require care in interpretation and response.
Read MoreTrust, Trade-offs & Metrics: Three Takeaways from the Gender Profit Gap Literature
Last week FAI hosted a webinar on the Gender Profit Gap to talk about why women’s businesses are smaller, grow less, and earn less, than men’s businesses. Below, some reflections from the literature on what can be done to empower women entrepreneurs.
Read MoreFAI in the News: The case for cash grants
A growing number of cities across the United States are testing out guaranteed income pilots, which give regular sums (between $100 - $1000) to primarily low-income residents. As USA Today reported on March 4, these pilots are a part of a wider discourse that supports guaranteed income as a mechanism to fight income instability, wealth inequality for low-income families, and to protect against unexpected shocks such as COVID-induced unemployment. “Guaranteed income has become more critical in the longer-term as the nation’s gig economy spawns a growing population of freelance and contract workers who don’t receive benefits and whose income fluctuates from week to week,” said FAI’s Executive Director Jonathan Morduch, who is part of the research team designing a pilot in Compton, California.
Read MoreLinks and Resources | faiVLive: Accounting for the Gender Profit Gap
Welcome to Accounting for the Gender Profit Gap, with Nava Ashraf, Morgan Hardy, and Tatiana Rincón, and moderated by Tim Ogden. Join the faiVLive webinar, or register to watch a recording when the webinar is over, here. Here’s some key research that we’ll be discussing in the webinar.
Read MoreRegister Now | faiVLive: Accounting for the Gender Profit Gap
Join us on Tuesday, March 2 as we bring together leading experts to explore innovative research around the reasons behind gender differences in the profitability and growth of small firms, and ways to better meet the needs of female entrepreneurs.
Read MoreFAI in the News: Mobile money and migration
A recent experiment by researchers Jean N. Lee, Jonathan Morduch, Saravana Ravindran, Abu Shonchoy, and Hassan Zaman studied the interplay between rural-to-urban migration in Bangladesh, and the introduction of mobile banking to modernize remittances.
Read MoreFAI in the News: COVID-19 and the Great Reverse Migration
Between March and May of 2020, millions of urban workers across Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan lost their livelihoods and were forced back to their villages. “We may look back at this moment as The Great Reverse Migration,” wrote the authors of a study that tracked the relationship between these migration patterns and the spread of the virus.
Read MoreWhat’s in It for Them? Convincing Digital Lenders to Protect their Customers
Why should digital lenders support consumer protection principles and practices? What’s in it for them? After a decade of experience with digital lending, it’s high time to answer this question.
Read MoreCash Flows vs Balance Sheets: How to Think about Short-term Savings
Last week’s edition of the faiVLive—co-presented with the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program—brought together researchers and practitioners to look at how low-income households use short-term savings, and what formal and informal financial tools and product features can help them achieve their savings goals.
A short recap of some highlights follows, but if you missed the webinar, you can still watch it HERE.
Read MoreFinclusion Week: Microfinance Impact from Bangladeshi Villages to Urban New Jersey
In the last 10 years researchers have generated a large handful of microfinance impact evaluations—mainly from countries in the southern hemisphere and mainly using RCT methods. In this 30-minute live video chat, Jonathan Morduch and Tim Ogden of FAI discuss connections between the studies, including the latest findings from the U.S.—a randomized evaluation of the Grameen America microcredit program in New Jersey. What can we learn from these findings? How do they shape expectations for new programs? And what do we learn for the role of microcredit in the financial lives of low-income households? Watch the recording here.
Read MorefaiVLive: How Low-Income Households Save—And Can We Help?
Savings has traditionally been measured by asking about “account” balances, or in national accounts by comparing incomes to expenditures. But we know that low-income households often save actively. They build up and draw down their funds throughout the year—what Nobel Laureate Angus Deaton termed “high frequency savings”—even if their balances don’t grow. Watch the recording here.
Read MoreFAI in the News: The shape of guaranteed income
By Jonathan Morduch and Sidhya Balakrishnan, The Hill
This is a unique opportunity to imagine interventions that can best improve the situations faced by so many Americans facing financial insecurity. Understanding how different policies will address different needs is something we, along with a team of researchers from the Jain Family Institute, New York University and Princeton University (including Sewin Chan, Sara Constantino, Johannes Haushofer and ourselves) have been exploring. The details matter.
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The current confluence of events — uprisings against racialized police violence, a global pandemic, an unfolding economic crisis — have created a desire for change. With everything else that's going on, families shouldn't also lose sleep worrying over how to meet basic needs. Cash transfers won't solve society's problems, but, with the right design, a guaranteed minimum income can be part of solutions.
Resources for faiVLive: Digital Financial Services and the Future of Financial Inclusion in Latin America (en español)
La pandemia ha elevado el perfil de los Servicios Financieros Digitales (SFD), los cuales han permitido una distribución sorprendentemente rápida de los fondos de apoyo social, ofreciendo un camino para brindar servicios financieros de forma segura y a escala. Sin embargo, aún quedan asuntos importantes que considerar en cuanto al despliegue e impacto final de los SFD. ¿Quiénes están siendo excluidos? ¿Cómo podemos asegurarnos de que los nuevos actores y modelos empresariales incorporen las necesidades de las comunidades y los clientes de escasos recursos? Esta edición de faiVLive reúne a profesionales e investigadores expertos para abordar estas preguntas y debatir el camino a seguir para los SFD y la inclusión financiera en América Latina. El webinar tuvo lugar el 15 de septiembre. Todavía se puede acceder a la grabación aquí.
Read MoreFAI In the News: What Kenya can teach its neighbors — and the US — about improving the lives of the “unbanked”
In a new article by Kelsey Piper on Vox, FAI’s Tim Ogden weighed in on the importance of mobile money in banking the unbanked in Kenya and the potential to spread Kenya’s model to its neighbors and around the world.
Read MoreWhy Will this Crisis be Different for Microfinance?
In a new article out from the Economics Observatory, FAI’s Tim Ogden and Jonathan Morduch, along with their co-authors Muhammad Meki, Simon Quinn, and Farah Said explain the global and local forces that combine to make the crisis brought on by the coronavirus pandemic different from past disruptions.
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