1. Microcredit in India: A recent review of the Indian microfinance space found MFIs are increasingly serving urban customers, albeit with better assets, at the expense of those in rural communities. Livemint
2. Incarceration and Poverty: We've discussed how the bail process is leading to increasingly high incarceration rates for the poor. But once in jail, those with child support obligations are hit with an even bigger debt burden, complicating their financial situations after they serve their sentences. The Washington Post
3. Credit Scoring: In life imitating Nineteen Eighty-Four news, China announced plans to create a mandatory "credit score" for all citizens by 2020. The score will link to national ID cards and incorporate data from social networks as well as a metric for "political compliance." CFI
Week of October 12, 2015
1. Field Experiments: In honor of Angus Deaton's Nobel prize win, FAI Managing Director Timothy Ogden released a chapter from his forthcoming book, Experimental Conversations, that includes an interview with Deaton discussing his thoughts on evidence and how we learn in economics. Medium
2. Financial Inclusion: An in-depth discussion with Mani Nandhi, who is studying the complex financial lives and decisions of rickshaw pullers in New Delhi, reveals insights that could inform the development of innovative financial products for India's poor. IMTFI
3. Urban Economic Development: According to a new report, young people ages 15-24 will make up 60% of urban residents by the year 2030. As cities struggle with absorbingpopulation growth, how can programs help to promote youth economic empowerment and employment? Making Cents International
Week of October 5, 2015
1. Microcredit: Kiva announced it will scale back Zip, its P2P lending program in Kenya, due to operational challenges. While it works on trying to crack the code of direct P2P lending in low-income environments without middlemen, Zidisha is enjoying success in doing just that. NextBillion - Zip and Zidisha
2. Mobile Money: Samsung announced a data breach of its mobile payments technology. Although the breach occurred around March, Samsung did not discover it until August and does not know if any information was taken. Incidents like this beg the question - Where are the risks in mobile payments? Payment Eye and CGAP
3. Debt Collection: An analysis of five years of debt collection lawsuit data from three metropolitan areas — St. Louis, Chicago and Newark — shows that even accounting for income, the rate of judgments was twice as high in mostly black neighborhoods as it was in mostly white ones. ProPublica
Week of September 28, 2015
1. Financial Education: A new study investigates the link between the "ABCs" of financial education (attitudes, behavior, and cognitive biases) and financial outcomes. The results report significant effects of both counseling and goal setting on real financial outcomes with no impact from "pay-for-performance" interventions. SSRN
2. Cash Transfers: Berk Özler sifts through the literature on cash transfer and graduation programs as he addresses the increasingly trendy development question – should we just give people cash? The World Bank
3. Asset Limits: Poor households face many challenges in building up savings for the long-term...and Maine just added another one. Starting November 1, individuals can only hold up to $5,000 in savings and other assets in order to receive food stamps. The Washington Post
Week of September 21, 2015
1. Retirement Savings: According to a recent survey, one in eight Americans tapped their retirement accounts over the past year to pay for unexpected emergencies, despite financial penalties and implications on long-term savings. Bankrate
2. Student Debt: PricewaterhouseCoopers announced it will assume up to $7,200 in student debt for its U.S. employees. According to one survey, only 3% of companies offer student loan repayment as a benefit. The Wall Street Journal
3. Research Methodology: An RCT conducted in Sierra Leone reports that a field researcher's race conveys subtle cues to research subjects, which could affect study outcomes — without anyone even realizing it. NY Magazine
Week of September 14, 2015
1. International Labor Mobility: FAI affiliate Michael Clemens discusses one of “the most effective development policies evaluated to date” and why it’s being ignored by major aid agencies. The Huffington Post
2. Small-Dollar Credit: Nick Bourke of The Pew Charitable Trusts suggests tweaks to the CFPB's proposed small dollar credit regulations that will allow banks to compete with payday lenders with better options for borrowers (hopefully). American Banker
3. Poverty Alleviation: "All programs have room to improve. 'Pro-poor' programs actually strive to improve toward greater effectiveness. Transparency and accountability are not just about separating wheat from chaff; they are about improving.” NextBillion
Week of September 7, 2015
1. Migration and Finance: We wanted to include a story on how refugees are financing their migration *and managing payments* but we couldn't find any. Do you know of one? Tweet it to us - @financialaccess.
2. Cash Transfers: Data from The Cash Atlas, an online platform that tracks cash transfers, suggests transfers are a growing (but still small) component of humanitarian interventions but are mostly conditional and/or mixed with in-kind transfers. Center for Global Development
3. US Financial Diaries: "Six months a year the [USFD] households we tracked had income that was either 20 percent above or below their average. So even the concept of average [income] is meaningless.” Next City
Week of August 31, 2015
1. Employment and Wages: Despite signs of an improving economy such as lower unemployment rates and increased productivity, take home pay for low-income workers in the U.S. has fallen since 2009. The New York Times
2. Behavioral Economics: Reminders are an oft-cited example of nudges that can improve welfare. Sometimes not following through isn't about forgetting or procrastination, though. An experiment using reminders to pay for child support in Ohio finds negligible effects. MDRC
3. Microfinance: "In the annals of Twitter spats, this is no Nicki Minaj vs. Taylor Swift. But even this muted public shade-throwing is relatively rare among anti-poverty stalwarts of Counts’ and Karlan’s caliber. And since IPA and Grameen Foundation are both NextBillion content partners, I feel the urge to act as referee." (Shockingly, reading some of the comments is worthwhile.) NextBillion
Week of August 24, 2015
1. Digital Financial Inclusion: The 2015 Financial and Digital Inclusion Project (FDIP) evaluates 21 countries on various dimensions of financial inclusion. Four out of the top five of the top scorers are in sub-Saharan Africa and Kenya ranked number one.
2. Mobile Money: Speaking of Kenya, Uber began accepting cash in Nairobi and its fleet of 30 registered vehicles tripled since the policy change in January. Is cash still king in the country known for unprecedented mobile money success?
3. Product Design: Evelyn Stark brings us Part 2 of her examination of customer-centric product development, focusing on organizational strategy and demand-side factors of improving take up.
Read MoreWeek of August 17, 2015
1. "War on Poverty": The bail process for petty crimes is leading to increasingly high incarceration rates for the poor. Many are not able to access funds to cover even a comparatively low bail of a few hundred dollars. In fact, 69% of the households below the poverty line in the US Financial Diaries project would not have emergency savings balances high enough to post a $500 bail.
2. Mobile Banking: India's central bank "pre-approved" 11 applications for banks that would take deposits and handle cash transfers. While this could positively impact financial inclusion efforts, the real winners are the Indian telecomms who are set to launch digital services like mobile savings and remittances.
3. Product Design: One Moroccan bank's attempt to offer savings accounts to the poor is a illustrative example of the importance of product design to the success of banking the unbanked...
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