Inequality in Financial Inclusion and Income Inequality

Author/Editor:

Goksu Aslan ; Corinne C Delechat ; Monique Newiak ; Fan Yang

Publication Date:

November 8, 2017

Electronic Access:

Free Download. Use the free Adobe Acrobat Reader to view this PDF file

Disclaimer: IMF Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to encourage debate. The views expressed in IMF Working Papers are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF, its Executive Board, or IMF management.

Summary:

We investigate the link between gender inequality in financial inclusion and income inequality, with three contributions to the recent literature. First, using a micro-dataset covering 146,000 individuals in over 140 countries, we construct novel, synthetic indices of the intensity of financial inclusion at the individual and country level. Second, we derive the distribution of individual financial access “scores” across countries to document a “Kuznets”-curve in financial inclusion. Third, cross-country regressions confirm that our measure of inequality in financial access is significantly related to income inequality, above and beyond other factors previously highlighted in the literature.

Series:

Working Paper No. 2017/236

Subject:

English

Publication Date:

November 8, 2017

ISBN/ISSN:

9781484324905/1018-5941

Stock No:

WPIEA2017236

Pages:

32

Please address any questions about this title to publications@imf.org