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Duvendack, Maren 
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8125-9115 and Mader, Philip
(2020)
Impact of financial inclusion in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review of reviews.
Journal of Economic Surveys, 34 (3).
pp. 594-629.
ISSN 0950-0804
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Abstract
Financial inclusion programmes seek to increase access to financial services such as credit, savings, insurance and money transfers. Despite a wealth of systematic review evidence, the impacts of financial inclusion are inconclusive. Hence, the first systematic review of systematic reviews was undertaken to synthesize the impacts of financial inclusion interventions on economic, social, gender and behavioural outcomes. Thirty-two systematic reviews were identified. The headline finding is that impacts are more likely to be positive than negative, but the effects vary, and appear not to be transformative in scope or scale, as they largely occur in the early stages of the causal chain. The effects of financial services on core economic and social poverty indicators are small and inconsistent. There is no evidence for meaningful behaviour-change outcomes. The effects on women's empowerment appear generally positive, but they depend upon programme features that are often peripheral to the financial service, and cultural and geographical context. Accessing savings opportunities has small but more consistently positive effects for poor people, and bears fewer downside risks for clients than credit. The inconsistent quality of the primary evidence base that formed the basis of their syntheses raises concerns about the reliability of the overall findings.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | This paper is the shortened and non-technical version of the Campbell Collaboration article which is published under the same name. |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | financial inclusion,impact,poverty alleviation,systematic review of reviews,economics and econometrics,sdg 1 - no poverty,sdg 5 - gender equality,sdg 8 - decent work and economic growth ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2000/2002 |
| Faculty \ School: | Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Global Development (formerly School of International Development) |
| UEA Research Groups: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Impact Evaluation Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Gender and Development |
| Related URLs: | |
| Depositing User: | LivePure Connector |
| Date Deposited: | 18 Mar 2020 07:18 |
| Last Modified: | 19 Dec 2024 00:59 |
| URI: | https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/74530 |
| DOI: | 10.1111/joes.12367 |
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