Can a Multipronged Strategy of “Soft” Interventions Surmount Structural Barriers for Financial Inclusion? Evidence From the Unbanked in Papua New Guinea
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 20304266 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Christopher Hoy (0000-0002-0849-5621, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, corresponding author), Russell Toth (0000-0003-3910-5566, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia), Nurina Merdikawati (0000-0001-8423-1997, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 58 |
| Issue | 12 |
| Pages | 2460-2482 |
| Publication date | 2022-12-02 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Journal of Development Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-0388 • E-ISSN: 1743-9140 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/00220388.2022.2102897 |
| OpenAlex | W4293237797 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 27 |
We study the impacts of a comprehensive financial inclusion program in a particularly remote, insecure and low-trust setting, lacking bridging institutions to facilitate sustained interventions. We evaluate this program in Wewak district in northwest Papua New Guinea, by randomly assigning treatment to 41 of 79 villages. The program involves a 2-day financial literacy training workshop, timely offers of no-fee bank accounts with reduced administrative hurdles, and savings ‘nudges’. We use both survey and bank account administrative data to measure its impact on financial literacy, budgeting and savings behavior, as well as on the ownership and use of bank accounts. Although 25 per cent of adults in treatment villages attended the training and 70 per cent of participants opened a bank account, we do not detect any significant downstream effects. Our results draw into question the benefit of initiatives aiming to ‘bank the unbanked’ in remote areas, revealing challenges in promoting financial inclusion among the next frontier of underserved and hard-to-reach populations
Bank account · Business · Economics · Financial inclusion · Financial literacy · Financial services · Inclusion (mineral) · New guinea · Payment · Psychological intervention · Savings account · Sociology · Survey data collection · Unbanked · Finance · Financial Literacy, Pension, Retirement Analysis · Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving · Medicine · Microfinance and Financial Inclusion · Psychology
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| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |