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The Opportunities and Challenges of Digitizing Government-to-Person Payments

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  • Leora Klapper
  • Dorothe Singer

Abstract

This paper reviews evidence on the benefits and challenges faced by governments migrating from cash to digital (electronic) government-to-person (G2P) payments. When supported by an appropriate consumer financial protection framework, digital payments enable confidential and convenient financial services, which can be especially important for women. By shifting government wages and social transfers into accounts, governments can lead by example. Digitizing G2P payments has the potential to dramatically reduce costs, increase efficiency and transparency, and help recipients build familiarity with digital payments. Digital wage and social transfer payments can also provide the on-ramp to financial inclusion and in many cases the first account that the recipient has in her own name and under her control. However, digitizing G2P payments is not without its challenges. Most importantly, digitization may require significant up-front investments in building an adequate physical payment infrastructure that is able to process such payments, as well as a financial identification system and a consumer protection and education framework to ensure that recipients have safe, reliable, and affordable access to the digital payment system.

Suggested Citation

  • Leora Klapper & Dorothe Singer, 2017. "The Opportunities and Challenges of Digitizing Government-to-Person Payments," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 32(2), pages 211-226.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:wbrobs:v:32:y:2017:i:2:p:211-226.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/wbro/lkx003
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    Cited by:

    1. World Bank [WB], 2018. "The Global Findex Database 2017: Measuring Financial Inclusion and the Fintech Revolution," Working Papers id:12735, eSocialSciences.
    2. Josep Maria Raya & Claudia Vargas, 2022. "How to become a cashless economy and what are the determinants of eliminating cash," Journal of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(1), pages 543-562, December.
    3. Jenny Aker & David A Carroll, 2022. "The State of Digital Financial Services in Francophone West Africa," Working Papers hal-03642499, HAL.
    4. Rajas Saroy & Sakshi Awasthy & Naveen K. Singh & Sonali M. Adki & Sarat Dhal, 2022. "The Impact Of Covid-19 On Digital Payment Habits Of Indian Households," Bulletin of Monetary Economics and Banking, Bank Indonesia, vol. 25(Special I), pages 19-42, March.
    5. Asli Demirguc-Kunt & Dorothe Singer & Leora Klapper & Saniya Ansar & Jake Hess, 2018. "Global Findex Database 2017 [La base de datos Global Findex 2017]," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 29510.
    6. Omika Bhalla Saluja & Priyanka Singh & Harit Kumar, 2023. "Barriers and interventions on the way to empower women through financial inclusion: a 2 decades systematic review (2000–2020)," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-14, December.
    7. Songyu Jiang & Jie Gao & Jing Chen & Xingqi Zhao, 2025. "How Does Digital Inclusive Finance Affect Agricultural Productive Services?—An Economic Model in the Chinese Context," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(2), pages 1-19, January.
    8. Julie Birkenmaier & Jin Huang, 2024. "A systematic conceptual review of financial access," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(2), pages 367-396, June.
    9. Immaculate, Nakalembe & Muathe, Stephen M. A & Maina, Samuel, 2024. "Navigating Unchartered Territory: Implication of Access to Financial Services on Non-Financial Performance of Youth Owned MSMEs in Mukono District, Uganda," OSF Preprints 5ek6f, Center for Open Science.
    10. Favourate Y. Mpofu, 2024. "Industry 4.0 in Finance, Digital Financial Services and Digital Financial Inclusion in Developing Countries: Opportunities, Challenges, and Possible Policy Responses," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 14(2), pages 120-135, March.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • G28 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • O16 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Financial Markets; Saving and Capital Investment; Corporate Finance and Governance

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