Determinants of financial inclusion in Latin America and the Caribbean

ABSTRACT

Financial inclusion is an important determinant of local economic development. Lack of adequate access to formal financial services can have detrimental effects on households, such as hampering liquidity levels. The benefits of financial inclusion could be especially important in Latin America and Caribbean, a region with modest and volatile economic growth, savings, and investment levels. The objective of this paper was to examine the determinants of financial inclusion in Latin America and the Caribbean region. Overall, our results indicate that greater income and education levels are associated with higher probability of financial inclusion.

KEYWORDS:

• Financial inclusion
• household finance
• financial institutions
• Latin America

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 The countries included in our sample are: Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Victor Motta

Victor Motta is Assistant Professor at Sao Paulo School of Business Administration, Fundação Getúlio Vargas.

Lauro Emilio Gonzalez Farias

Lauro Gonzalez is Associate Professor at Sao Paulo School of Business Administration, Fundação Getúlio Vargas.