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Does Financial Literacy Improve Financial Inclusion? Cross Country Evidence. No. 95

Diskussionspapiere extern

Antonia Grohmann, Theres Klühs, Lukas Menkhoff

Munich, Germany: Collaborative Research Center Transregio 190, 2018, 94 S.
(Discussion paper / Rationality & Competition, CRC TRR 190 ; 95)

Abstract

While financial inclusion is typically addressed by improving the financial infrastructure, we show that a higher degree of financial literacy also has a clear beneficial effect. We study this effect at the cross-country level, which allows us to consider institutional variation. Regarding “access to finance”, financial infrastructure and financial literacy are mainly substitutes. However, regarding the “use of financial services”, the effect of higher financial literacy strengthens the effect of more financial depth. The causal interpretation of these results is supported by IV-regressions. Moreover, the positive impact of financial literacy holds across income levels and several subgroups within countries.

Lukas Menkhoff

Senior Research Associate in the Macroeconomics Department

Topics: Education



JEL-Classification: G02;O1
Keywords: financial development, financial inclusion, financial institutions, financial literacy
Externer Link:
https://rationality-and-competition.de/wp-content/uploads/discussion_paper/95.pdf

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