Week of December 7, 2015

1. Savings Research: The latest "State of the Campaign" report estimates there were 211 million microfinance borrowers in 2013, 114 of whom had incomes of less than $1.90/day. MFIs as a whole continue to shift away from the poorest and toward wealthier clients for the third year in a row. Microcredit Summit Campaign 

2. Cash Transfers: A new J-PAL study reports significant effects on female empowerment among women receiving conditional cash transfers (CCT) in urban Macedonia. In areas where women directly received CCTs (and were potentially more empowered), they had a lower willingness to pay to maintain control over cash than in areas where they may not be as empowered, such as when the head of household received the transfers. J-PAL

3. Mobile Money: The first analysis of a multi-part series on the Kenyan digital financial services market finds as competition increases, mobile money providers are differentiating their pricing strategies.  Users are willing to pay a premium for M-Pesa but for how long? Helix Institute

4. Income Inequality: "The world’s quintessential middle-class society is on the way to becoming its first former middle-class society." -Joseph Stiglitz Project Syndicate

5. Fintech: This fintech idea generator provides endless inspiration for your next innovative "uber of [blank]" app that will disrupt financial services. Fluxx