1. Housing Instability:  Ellen Seidman, senior fellow at the Urban Institute, discusses the role of housing instability for the latest post in SSIR's ongoing blog and webinar series. Seidman points out that even if regulation helps to preserve America's limited stock of affordable housing, household income volatility requires changes to housing finance programs. Stanford Social Innovation Review

2. Digital Divide: The focus of the 2016 World Development Report is the economic impact (or lack thereof) of digital technologies. The report finds developing countries have on aggregate missed out on major economic gains from the rapid proliferation of mobile phones and other digital technologies, despite the promise of growth. The World Bank

3. Financial Inclusion: American Express announced plans to close most of its enterprise growth division, tasked with reaching lower income customers, with the exception of debit cards for the unbanked. Bloomberg Business

1. Financial Lives of Americans:  The second post in a blog and webinar series on the hidden financial lives of Americans discusses the impact of income volatility for low- and middle-income households. Even when families are saving, a mismatch of income and expenses creates barriers to financial stability. Stanford Social Innovation Review

2. Minimum Wage: In November, Emeryville, CA became the first US city to raise the minimum wage to $15 practically overnight. While some workers notice almost immediate financial relief, others don't feel they are getting ahead (but do say they aren’t falling behind quite as rapidly). The Nation

3. Microcredit: Growing client indebtedness, regulatory loopholes, and debt-related suicides in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are causing some to wonder if theses areas are on the verge of a crisis similar to Andhra Pradesh's in 2010. The Wire

1. Financial Lives of Americans:  Featuring research from the US Financial Diaries project, the first post in a new blog and webinar series explores how the financial lives of low- and middle-income Americans have changed in the past few decades...and how programs and policies designed to help them also need to change. Stanford Social Innovation Review

2. Future of Microfinance: "It’s time to reframe the research questions – setting aside the question of whether 'microfinance' can 'solve poverty' and moving on to a next generation of research which accurately reflects both the nature and the intentions of current financial inclusion practice." NextBillion

3. Banking for Migrants: Lack of identification, strict regulations, and language difficulties often deter large banks from providing services to migrants. But many community-based financial institutions (in America and Europe) are finding new ways to serve migrant populations. The Economist

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

1. Savings Research: A new RCT looks at microsavings impact in Kenya among poor women. When provided with access to mobile savings accounts, those in the treatment group increased savings account balances and reduced transfers within their risk-sharing network. While the authors did not find negative welfare effects, the study raises questions on the relationship between formal financial access and informal financial systems. The World Bank

2. Mobile Money: A new report explores the growing popularity of the mobile money service Zaad and its implications on the state building process in Somaliland. IMTFI

3. Impact Evaluation: Chris Blattman worries about the direction of experimental social sciences, while David McKenzie is frustrated by a double standard for evaluating evidence. Although some might argue to abandon research altogether since we should apparently reject results that don't align with our personal experience.

1. Wealth Creation: Research from the US Financial Diaries finds households rely on the financial support of family and friends to get by. However, familial obligations can also be a financial burden that hinders growth of intergenerational wealth, especially for minority households. The Atlantic

2. Financial Inclusion: Accelerating Pathways, a new research initiative, explores how the economic environments of 35 global cities create opportunities for young people and the factors contribute most to youth's economic success. Citi Foundation

3. Digital Financial Services: The ability to prove one's identity is key to accessing digital financial services but as FAI affiliate Ignacio Mas and David Porteous explain, the idea of digital identity should expand to promote financial inclusion and allow the poor to meet KYC requirements. Innovations

1. Financial Inclusion: "In the midst of the accelerating growth in complexity and scale of payment sectors worldwide, we find that the biggest constraint today is not shortage of funding...the biggest global constraint is human: a shortage of the capabilities and competences which undergird capacity within organizations new and old, public and private." CFI

2. Credit: A review of consumer credit data from more than 5 million customers over a five year period offers some surprising findings - auto debt in combination with any other debt generally indicated a lower credit score and younger borrowers with a mortgage and student loans have higher scores than their older counterparts with the same debt combination. Urban Institute

3. Microinsurance: A preliminary review of the microinsurance landscape in sub-Saharan Africa indicates growth in both number of policies and products, with the largest growth in health and agricultural coverage. Microinsurance Network & Munich Re Foundation

1. Financial Inclusion: A new report explores the "economic factors driving financial products and why the status quo fails to meet the financial needs of lower-income consumers." ideas42 and Oliver Wyman

2. Development Research: David Evans puts us to shame by providing summaries of over 150 papers from the 2015 NEUDC, all in handy tweetable formats. Development Impact Blog
 
3. Student Debt: Are private investors the answer to rising student debt or just an oversimplified "solution" to a very complex problem? Urban Institute

1. Impact Evaluations:  David McKenzie's new paper on matching grant evaluations is really about drawing lessons from not implementing research. Development Impact Blog

2. Credit Scoring: An in-depth look at products that use non-financial data to predict creditworthiness in emerging markets reviews the challenges they face and the experiences of early adopters.  Omidyar Network

3. Housing Finance:  A new report draws upon survey data from 48 financial institutions from around the world to sketch a picture of the current state of housing microfinance. While demand for housing finance is strong and growing, implementation challenges to offering products that work well for poor clients remain. Habitat for Humanity

1. Financial Inclusion: Germany announced a new law that will make it easier for migrants to access financial services. Under the new rules, everyone will have the right to open accounts at any bank, enabling them to deposit and withdraw cash, conduct transfers, and use payment cards. But what will the implications be for anti-money laundering and KYC regulations? Reuters

2. Payday Lending:  Is the future of payday lending more regulation of lenders or more regulation of banks? Federal Reserve of New York and The New York Times

3. Mobile Money: "Digital financial service providers often make the mistake of assuming that the solutions they offer exist in a vacuum. The reality is that any solution intended for the mass market will be co-opted or adapted to reflect the current behaviour and motivations for that behaviour."  Microsave: Part 1, Part 2, & Part 3