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The basic analytics of access to financial services

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Author Info
Beck, Thorsten
de la Torre, Augusto

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Abstract

Access to financial services, or rather the lack thereof, is often indiscriminately decried as a problem in many developing countries. The authors argue that the"problem of access"should rather be analyzed by identifying different demand and supply constraints. They use the concept of an access possibilities frontier, drawn for a given set of state variables, to distinguish between cases where a financial system settles below the constrained optimum, cases where this constrained optimum is too low, and-in credit services-cases where the observed outcome is excessively high. They distinguish between payment and savings services and fixed intermediation costs, on the one hand, and lending services and different sources of credit risk, on the other hand. The authors include both supply and demand side frictions that can lead to lower access. The analysis helps identify bankable and banked population, the binding constraint to close the gap between the two, and policies to prudently expand the bankable population. This new conceptual framework can inform the debate on adequate policies to expand access to financial services and can serve as the basis for an informed measurement of access.

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Paper provided by The World Bank in its series Policy Research Working Paper Series with number 4026.

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Date of creation: 01 Oct 2006
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Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4026

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Related research
Keywords: Banks&Banking Reform; Economic Theory&Research; Markets and Market Access; Access to Markets; Financial Intermediation;

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This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports: References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Ross Levine, 1997. "Financial Development and Economic Growth: Views and Agenda," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 35(2), pages 688-726, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  2. Patrick Honohan, 2004. "Financial development, growth, and poverty: how close are the links?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3203, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  3. Claessens, Stijn & Laeven, Luc, 2004. "What Drives Bank Competition? Some International Evidence," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 36(3), pages 563-83, June.
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  4. Honohan, Patrick, 2006. "Household financial assets in the process of development," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3965, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
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  5. Navajas, Sergio & Schreiner, Mark & Meyer, Richard L. & Gonzalez-vega, Claudio & Rodriguez-meza, Jorge, 2000. "Microcredit and the Poorest of the Poor: Theory and Evidence from Bolivia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 333-346, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. Michael Gavin & Ricardo Hausmann, 1996. "The Roots of Banking Crises: The Macroeconomic Context," RES Working Papers 4026, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department. [Downloadable!]
  7. Beck, Thorsten & Levine, Ross & Loayza, Norman, 2000. "Finance and the sources of growth," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(1-2), pages 261-300. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. Beck, Thorsten & Demirguc-Kunt, Asli & Laeven, Luc & Maksimovic, Vojislav, 2006. "The determinants of financing obstacles," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 25(6), pages 932-952, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. Caskey & John P. & Duran, Clemente Ruiz & Solo, Tova Maria, 2006. "The urban unbanked in Mexico and the United States," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3835, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  10. Nava Ashraf & Dean Karlan & Wesley Yin, 2006. "Household Decision Making and Savings Impacts: Further Evidence from a Commitment Savings Product in the Philippines," Working Papers 939, Economic Growth Center, Yale University. [Downloadable!]
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  11. de la Torre, Augusto & Gozzi, Juan Carlos & Schmukler, Sergio L., 2007. "Innovative experiences in access to finance : market friendly roles for the visible hand ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4326, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  12. Stijn Claessens & Thomas Glaessner & Daniela Klingebiel, 2002. "Electronic Finance: Reshaping the Financial Landscape Around the World," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 29-61, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Beck, Thorsten & Demirguc-Kunt, Asli & Maksimovic, Vojislav, 2002. "Financial and legal constraints to firm growth - Does size matter?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2784, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  14. Beatriz Armendariz & Jonathan Morduch, 2007. "The Economics of Microfinance," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262512017.
  15. Williamson, Stephen D, 1987. "Costly Monitoring, Loan Contracts, and Equilibrium Credit Rationing," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 102(1), pages 135-45, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  16. de la Torre, Augusto & Gozzi, Juan Carlos & Schmukler, Sergio L., 2007. "Capital market development : whither Latin America ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4156, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
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  17. repec:fth:inadeb:318 is not listed on IDEAS
  18. Gine, Xavier & Klonner, Stefan, 2005. "Credit constraints as a barrier to technology adoption by the poor : lessons from South Indian small-scale fishery," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3665, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
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  19. Thorsten Beck & Asli Demirgüç-Kunt & Vojislav Maksimovic, 2005. "Financial and Legal Constraints to Growth: Does Firm Size Matter?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(1), pages 137-177, 02. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  20. Stiglitz, Joseph E & Weiss, Andrew, 1981. "Credit Rationing in Markets with Imperfect Information," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(3), pages 393-410, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  21. Honohan, Patrick, 2005. "Measuring microfinance access : building on existing cross-country data," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3606, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  22. Nava Ashraf & Dean Karlan & Wesley Yin, 2006. "Tying Odysseus to the Mast: Evidence from a Commitment Savings Product in the Philippines," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 121(2), pages 635-672, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  23. Marianne Bertrand & Dean S. Karlan & Sendhil Mullainathan & Eldar Shafir & Jonathan Zinman, 2005. "What's Psychology Worth? A Field Experiment in the Consumer Credit Market," Working Papers 918, Economic Growth Center, Yale University. [Downloadable!]
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  24. Beck, Thorsten & Demirguc-Kunt, Asli & Martinez Peria, Maria Soledad, 2005. "Reaching out : access to and use of banking services across countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3754, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
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  25. Stijn Claessens, 2006. "Access to Financial Services: A Review of the Issues and Public Policy Objectives," World Bank Research Observer, Oxford University Press, vol. 21(2), pages 207-240.
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  26. Thorsten Beck & Ross Levine, 2003. "Legal Institutions and Financial Development," NBER Working Papers 10126, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  27. Frame, W Scott & Srinivasan, Aruna & Woosley, Lynn, 2001. "The Effect of Credit Scoring on Small-Business Lending," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 33(3), pages 813-25, August.
  28. Inessa Love & Nataliya Mylenko, 2003. "Credit reporting and financing constraints," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3142, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  29. Beck, Thorsten, 2006. "Creating an efficient financial system : challenges in a global economy," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3856, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  30. Claessens, Stijn, 2006. "Access to financial services: a review of the issues and public policy objectives," Journal of Financial Transformation, Capco Institute, vol. 17, pages 16-19. [Downloadable!]
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Demirguc-Kunt, Asli, 2006. "Finance and economic development : policy choices for developing countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3955, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  2. Alexander Conrad & Doris Neuberger & Maria Schneider-Reißig, 2008. "Geographic and Demographic Bank Outreach: Evidence from Germany’s Three-Pillar Banking System," Thuenen-Series of Applied Economic Theory 98, University of Rostock, Institute of Economics, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  3. Beck, Thorsten & Demirguc-Kunt, Asli & Martinez Peria, Maria Soledad, 2006. "Banking services for everyone ? Barriers to bank access and use around the world," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4079, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Jana Bruder & Doris Neuberger & Solvig Raethke-Doeppner, 2007. "Financial Constraints of Ethnic Entrepreneurship: Evidence from Germany," Thuenen-Series of Applied Economic Theory 84, University of Rostock, Institute of Economics, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  5. de la Torre, Augusto & Gozzi, Juan Carlos & Schmukler, Sergio L., 2006. "Financial development in Latin America : big emerging issues, limited policy answers," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3963, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  6. Beck, Thorsten & Klapper, Leora F. & Mendoza, Juan Carlos, 2008. "The typology of partial credit guarantee funds around the world," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4771, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  7. Alex William Trew, 2008. " Infrastructure Finance and Industrial Takeoff in the United Kingdom," CDMA Working Paper Series 0809, Centre for Dynamic Macroeconomic Analysis. [Downloadable!]
  8. Alex William Trew, 2007. " Efficiency, Depth and Growth: Quantitative Implications of Finance and Growth Theory," CDMA Working Paper Series 0712, Centre for Dynamic Macroeconomic Analysis. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
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