Despite great developmental efforts in recent decades, Latin America still presents high levels of poverty and inequality when compared to developed nations. As explored widely in the literature, one potential instrument to diminish these issues is financial inclusion, including the access and usage of financial services by all people. Specifically, this paper verifies if financial inclusion and technology adoption decrease the poverty headcount ratio and the Gini index (i.e., inequality) of 13 Latin America countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay). To perform such analysis, an unbalanced panel dataset was built, and the Feasible Generalized Least Squares (FGLS) and the Limited Information Maximum Likelihood (LIML) techniques were employed. The results suggest that, in accordance with previous studies, financial inclusion is a powerful tool to tackle poverty and inequality. Additionally, the combined effects of financial inclusions and technology (i.e., mobile use) are also capable of decreasing the poverty and inequality levels. We discuss the policy implications of our findings and suggest a future research agenda.

Paper aims: to analyze the international flow of students-both from developed and underdeveloped countries-and to observe their significance for the productivity gains of the country of origin of these students. Originality: The main contributions to the literature are the understanding of how student flows affect countries' economic growth, as well as to verify the systematic differences between the contribution of international student flows to economic growth between developed and underdeveloped countries. Research method: This empirical study performed using a data set of 87 countries, during 2001-2012 yields results that are in accordance with previous literature, supporting the hypothesis of international student flows as a significant channel of R&D spillovers from developed countries. The paper used econometric models already tested by previous studies. Main findings: The results show that BRICS countries may benefit more than other countries from such internationalization initiatives. Implications for theory and practice: The mobility of international students is currently an important political issue in the world. These formal or informal links between agents from diverse countries result in an exchange of ideas, experiences and knowledge potentially generating new business opportunities for developing economies.

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