Financial Inclusion and Income Inequality: An Evaluation on Cause-and- Effect Relationship

Abstract

This study discusses the financial inclusion mechanisms that function under a capitalist production. Financial inclusion is a field which is given importance due to being a central element of the new conception of development and a way to overcome recession in the capitalist system. In the new development conception, the removal of barriers to access to finance, that is, financial inclusion has become important to reduce inequality. Being a form of financialization, financial inclusion has also become widespread in many countries in recent years as a way of overcome recession that emerges in the functioning of capitalism by supporting demands. The objective of this study is to investigate the causes of financial inclusion and its interactions with inequalities using descriptive analysis. The study argues that inequality-based functioning of the capitalist system triggers income inequalities, it needs mechanisms like financial inclusion to eliminate these inequalities (to the extent that it complicates the functioning of the system), and financial inclusion increases inequalities instead of reducing them.