Bottlenecks to Financial Development, Financial Inclusion, and Microfinance: A Case Study of Mauritania

Bouasria, Mohamedou; Ashta, Arvind; Ratsimalahelo, Zaka

doi:10.3390/jrfm13100239

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…Other research confirmed that levels of financial literacy in emerging markets are lower than in industrialized countries (De Mel et al 2011;Cole et al 2011), especially in rural areas and among households living outside of major cities (Schuetz and Venkatesh 2020;Bouasria et al 2020). These statistics clearly show that the level of financial literacy needs to be improved.…”

Section: Financial Education-its Role and Importance From An Individual And Global Perspectivementioning

confidence: 81%

Empowering Financial Education by Banks—Social Media as a Modern Channel

Kuchciak

Wiktorowicz

2021

JRFM

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Financial literacy is extremely important, both from the perspective of the financial well-being of individuals and the stability of the financial market and the whole economy. The more financially literate a bank’s customers are, the more frequently and consciously they use financial products and services. Thus, banks are potentially significant stakeholders in the financial education process. Considering that social media have become the leading channel for communication and relationship building, especially regarding young clients, this channel should also be used by banks to increase financial literacy. The aim of this paper is to assess banks’ involvement in financial education activities through social media. We assume that banks use social media as a modern and attractive channel for improving financial education among social media users. The empirical analysis was conducted using several data sources, including non-financial statements and a unique self-collected dataset that describes the specifics of the most popular social media platforms (like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, GoldenLine, and LinkedIn) in the activities of commercial and cooperative banks in Poland between 2010 and 2019. Descriptive statistical methods and cluster analysis were used. The results show that educational activities provided by banks in Poland differ for each social media channel. Additionally, although financial education topics have become more popular among content published by banks, there is a huge disproportion between cooperative and commercial banks. Generally, banks that are more active on social media (mostly commercial banks) also pay more attention to the financial education context.

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Section: Financial Education-its Role and Importance From An Individual And Global Perspectivementioning

confidence: 81%

Empowering Financial Education by Banks—Social Media as a Modern Channel

Kuchciak

Wiktorowicz

2021

JRFM

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“…We suggest that the geographic penetration of the implementing outlets be increased in the states where the incidence of poverty (measured by number of poor) is high and the literacy is low. This is endorsed by Bouasria et al (2020) who observe that the level of financial inclusion is influenced by the density of population. The same criteria may be applied for appointment of business correspondents or bank mitras.…”

Section: Summary Conclusion and Policy Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 95%

Overcoming barriers to financial inclusion: empirical evidence from India

Ambarkhane

Singh

Venkataramani

et al. 2022

IJSE

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PurposeThis paper attempts to measure the state-wise impact of Prime Minister's Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) in 30 states and 6 union territories of India for the years 2016, 2017 and 2018; and tries to develop a state-wise plan for geographical expansion of outlets optimizing the overall impact of the scheme.Design/methodology/approachThe state-wise impact factor is calculated using demographic penetration of the scheme in rural areas, demographic penetration of the scheme in urban areas, percentage of accounts with Rupay cards and average balance in these accounts. The impact factor is postulated to be a linear function of literacy, per capita GDP, demographic and geographic penetration of banks and the number of poor people. The weights for the sub-parameters are derived through principal component analysis. A generalized linear model with heteroscedasticity and autocorrelation consistency method for estimation of the equation with robust standard errors is used.FindingsIt is found that the scheme has been more effective in the states with higher levels of illiteracy which is contrary to the findings of existing studies where illiteracy is identified as a barrier to financial inclusion. A state-wise plan for geographical expansion of outlets is proposed with a view to optimizing the overall impact of the scheme, along with suggestions for improvement.Research limitations/implicationsThe data for ATMs and bank mitras are available for some of the years, for some states and hence missing data were estimated using extrapolation or on an average basis. Furthermore, the panel data are available for three years making the period of panel small. These aspects might have affected the efficacy of our estimates.Originality/valueThe paper evaluates the newly launched ambitious program PMJDY by the Government of India (GoI), it will have far reaching impact on financial inclusion.

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“…The plausible explanation for this relationship can be attributed to location-based contextual factors in Mauritania. The Tagant region has one of the highest prevalence rates of poverty in Mauritania and has attracted attention from the government of Mauritania and other local and international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) who have introduced strategies to improve the socio-economic wellbeing of residents, including women (International Monetary Fund, 2004;Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations Nations, 2015;Bouasria et al, 2020). The combined efforts of these organisations and their activities may have worked overtime to improve the household decision-making autonomy of women in this region.…”

Section: Respondent Alone 13mentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the link between household structure and women’s household decision-making autonomy in Mauritania

Anfaara,

Amoak,

Kye

et al. 2024

J. Biosoc. Sci.

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Governments in sub-Saharan African countries aim to increase married women’s household decision-making autonomy as it remains a critical determinant of desirable health behaviours such as healthcare utilisation, antenatal care visits, and safer sex negotiation. However, very few studies explore how household structure (i.e., monogamous or polygamous) is associated with married women’s household decision-making autonomy. Our paper seeks to address this gap. Using the 2019–20 Mauritania Demographic and Health Survey, a nationally representative dataset, and applying logistic regression analysis, we explore how married women’s household structure is associated with their household decision-making autonomy. We find that 9% of married women are in polygamous marriages, while 63% and 65% are involved in decision-making about their health and large household purchases, respectively. Additionally, 76% and 56% are involved in decision-making about visiting family or relatives and household expenditures. After accounting for socio-economic and demographic factors, we find that compared to women from monogamous households, those from polygamous households are less likely to participate in decision-making about their health (OR=0.65, p < 0.001), making large household purchases (OR=0.65, p < 0.001), visiting family or relatives (OR=0.72, p < 0.001), and household expenditure (OR=0.58, p < 0.001). Based on our findings, we recommend the urgent need to review and re-evaluate policies and approaches seeking to promote gender equality and women’s autonomy in Mauritania. Specifically, it may be critical for intervention programmes to work around reducing power imbalances in polygamous household structures that continue to impact married women’s household decision-making autonomy adversely. Such interventions should centre married women’s socio-economic status as a central component of their empowerment strategies in Mauritania.

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Bottlenecks to Financial Development, Financial Inclusion, and Microfinance: A Case Study of Mauritania

Cited by 6 publications

References 54 publications

Empowering Financial Education by Banks—Social Media as a Modern Channel

Empowering Financial Education by Banks—Social Media as a Modern Channel

Overcoming barriers to financial inclusion: empirical evidence from India

Exploring the link between household structure and women’s household decision-making autonomy in Mauritania

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