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This paper evaluates the impact of a VAT rate increase on bank account ownershipby Mexican micro-entrepreneurs considering informality as the main channel of this effect. Using two rounds of a cross-section survey aimed at understanding financial inclusion in Mexicoand a difference-in-difference strategy, results indicate that an increase in the VAT rate negatively affects the probability of having a bank account by micro-entrepreneurs in northern municipalities where the tax rate increased from 11 to 16 percent. In particular, financial inclusion of micro-entrepreneurs in the northern border decreased and the effect is statistically significant,whereas financial inclusion of formal and informal salaried workersin the northern borderdid not change as their fiscal obligations remained the same with the VAT amendment.

In view of the evidence that poor savings can inhibit investment decision by borrowers of surplus funds, and that countries with well-established and efficiently utilised financial services have considerably less poverty, the study examines factors influence saving account ownership in Ghana using econometric approach. We used empirical evidence with data sourced from informal market traders in selected major market centres in Ghana. Using probit regression analysis, the results suggest that financial educations, number of income-generating ventures engaged in by the market trader are major predictors of savings account ownership status. Other predictors include demographic characteristics such as gender, age, marital status and number of dependents. It is, therefore, recommended that banks and financial institutions should intensify financial education strategies to boost savings mobilization. Government's policy intervention should be directed towards informal sector enterprise development to the crowd in revenue in order to motivate decisions to save. Also, the National Board for Small Scale and informal Businesses in Ghana should intensify education on how to sustain diverse income generation ventures to fetch income from multiple sources in order to encourage behavioural intentions to save.

AbstractOwnership of a bank account is an objective measure and should be relatively easy to elicit via survey questions. Yet, depending on the interview mode, the wording of the question and its placement within the survey may influence respondents' answers. The Health and Retirement Study (HRS) asset module, as administered online to members of the Understanding America Study (UAS), yielded substantially lower rates of reported bank account ownership than either a single question on ownership in the Current Population Survey (CPS) or the full asset module administered to HRS panelists (both interviewer-administered surveys). We designed and implemented an experiment in the UAS comparing the original HRS question eliciting bank account ownership with two alternative versions that were progressively simplified. We document strong evidence that the original question leads to systematic underestimation of bank account ownership. In contrast, the proportion of bank account owners obtained from the simplest alternative version of the question is very similar to the population benchmark estimate. We investigate treatment effect heterogeneity by cognitive ability and financial literacy. We find that questionnaire simplification affects responses of individuals with higher cognitive ability substantially less than those with lower cognitive ability. Our results suggest that high-quality data from surveys start from asking the right questions, which should be as simple and precise as possible and carefully adapted to the mode of interview.

This article combines the literature on kin networks and racial disparities in asset ownership. Specifically, we examine the effects of kin characteristics—sibling poverty and parental poverty, education, and occupation—on financial account ownership and home ownership. We find that kin matter for these outcomes. Having a poor sibling and coming from a poor family are negatively associated with account and home ownership while mother's education has a positive effect. Separate analyses by race suggest that kin characteristics matter for both Blacks and Whites for account ownership, but for home ownership they are significant for Whites only. Racial differences in kin characteristics account for over half of the racial gap in account ownership, but are not important for understanding the racial gap in home ownership. The significant effects of extended family characteristics on socioeconomic well‐being make a case for the inclusion of kin variables in the growing literature on wealth disparities among Blacks and Whites.

International audience ; The term "financial inclusion" implies the access to and use of banking services (bank accounts, savings, insurance, credits, payments, etc.) at a low cost for disadvantaged and low-income population in a country. In fact, banking services are considered as a public good. It is therefore necessary that the accessibility and equity in the use of banking services by the entire population must be among the main objectives of government policies and financial institutions, for it helps to meet the basic financial needs of the population in any country. The main objective of our study is to examine the determinants of bank account ownership which is considered to be the basic dimension of banking services use and therefore financial inclusion. In our paper, adopting an empirical approach of cross-sectional data, we study the elements that condition the ownership of a bank account in the African continent. ; Le terme «inclusion financière» implique l'accès et l'utilisation des services bancaires (compte courant, épargne, assurance, crédit, paiements, etc.) à un faible coût pour la population défavorisée et à faible revenu dans un pays. En fait, les services bancaires ont un caractère de bien public. Il est donc nécessaire que l'accessibilité et l'utilisation équitable des services bancaires par l'ensemble de la population doivent figurer parmi les objectifs primordiaux des politiques gouvernementales et des institutions financières. En effet, cela permet de répondre aux besoins financiers de base de la population dans un pays quelconque. L'objectif principal de notre étude est donc d'examiner les déterminants de la détention d'un compte courant qui est considéré comme étant une dimension basique d'utilisation des services bancaires et par conséquent de l'inclusion financière. Dans notre papier, nous adoptons une approche empirique en données transversales afin d'analyser les éléments qui conditionnent la détention d'un compte courant dans le continent africain.

This study investigates whether saving account ownership and access to financial institutions influence household credit in Indonesia. Using a multinomial logit regression model and a sample of 294,426 households from the 2018 national socioeconomic survey and the village potential data, we find that account ownership is essential in encouraging formal credit and reducing informal credit. Access to commercial banks, rural banks, and cooperatives can then improve formal credit without significantly reducing informal credit. Hence, the government needs to encourage bank account ownership and facilitate access to financial institutions in order to promote formal credit and reduce informal credit.

This paper examines the household retirement saving decisions in what concerns to the ownership of Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) in eight European Union (EU) countries. IRAs are more and more seen as an alternative to public pension benefits, which are decreasing. Therefore, understanding the enrolment in IRAs, both the socio-economic factors and over time, is most important. Detailed empirical analysis of the factors that might influence the ownership of IRAs is presented based on Survey of Health Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), using data from Wave 2 (2006-2007) and Wave 4 (2010-2011). Further, to analyse the impact of legal retirement age in the ownership of IRAs, two subsamples are considered: people aged between 50 and 64 years old (50-64 years) and people aged 65 or over (≥ 65 years). The results suggest that age, years of education, income and ownership of dwelling influence positively and significantly household saving, while number of children, marital status and risk aversion have a negative effect. Marital status and income are not statistically significant for retired people. Policy implications are derived.

AbstractThis article investigates the distributional impact of mobile money account ownership on farm input expenditures among maize farmers in southern Ghana. Using cross‐sectional data from 1044 farm households, we employed an instrumental variable quantile regression to account for endogeneity and selection bias. We find that socioeconomic, spatial location, and institutional factors significantly influence male and female‐headed household decisions to own mobile money accounts. The empirics show that male‐headed households spend more on fertilizer and pesticide relative to female‐headed households. Mobile money account ownership increases fertilizer expenditure in male‐headed households more than female‐headed households. Male‐headed families with mobile money accounts spend 13.9% and 6.5% more on fertilizer at the 40th and 60th quantiles. High 80th quantile female‐headed households spend 4.3% more on fertilizer. For male‐headed households, farming experience and education positively influence mobile money account ownership on fertilizer expenditure, while off‐farm activity at the 40th quantile positively influences female‐headed households. Our results distill useful policy implications that call for concerted efforts targeted at digital financial inclusion with an eye to bridging differential gender gaps.

AbstractThis paper examines the relationship between state policies and bank account ownership in developing countries. While existing literatures broadly support a 'market‐enabling' approach, consisting of limited direct state intervention and proportionate regulation, statistical analyses frequently rely on problematic measurement techniques. This study adopts a novel and more comprehensive approach by using a modified index constructed from expert evaluations. Using ordinary least squares regression, the analysis suggests a positive relationship between a market‐enabling state policy framework and increased bank account ownership among the total population, but the relationship diminishes among key subpopulations: adult women, rural adults and the poorest 40 per cent of adults. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.