IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/applec/v50y2018i14p1555-1577.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The challenge of rural financial inclusion – evidence from microfinance

Author

Listed:
  • Tania Lopez
  • Adalbert Winkler

Abstract

Financial inclusion is said to foster development and growth. However, progress in financial inclusion has been slow in rural areas where poverty is most pronounced. This is often attributed to higher transaction costs, higher risks and a more unfavourable contracting environment which makes it more difficult for financial institutions to achieve and maintain sustainability in rural compared to urban areas. Based on data covering 772 microfinance institutions (MFIs) over the period 2008–2013, we test whether rural financial inclusion, notably lending to rural borrowers, is hampered by stronger sustainability challenges than inclusion in urban markets. Our results suggest that a higher share of rural borrowers has no direct effect on MFI sustainability. However, we find that MFIs with a higher share of rural borrowers are less able to exploit economies of scale and productivity effects. Thus, our results provide support for the view that sustainability challenges make it more difficult to achieve progress in financial inclusion in rural than in urban areas.

Suggested Citation

  • Tania Lopez & Adalbert Winkler, 2018. "The challenge of rural financial inclusion – evidence from microfinance," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(14), pages 1555-1577, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:applec:v:50:y:2018:i:14:p:1555-1577
    DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2017.1368990
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/00036846.2017.1368990
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/00036846.2017.1368990?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Md Aslam Mia & Sunil Sangwan & A. H. M. Belayeth Hussain & Nurhafiza Abdul Kader Malim, 2022. "Rural–urban financial inclusion: Implications on the cost sustainability of microfinance lenders," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(6), pages 1899-1911, September.
    2. Saibal Ghosh, 2020. "Financial Inclusion in India: Does Distance Matter?," South Asia Economic Journal, Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka, vol. 21(2), pages 216-238, September.
    3. Eduardo Rodrigues Sanguinet & Francisco de Borja García-García, 2023. "Rural-Urban Linkages: Regional Financial Business Services’ Integration into Chilean Agri-Food Value Chains," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-22, July.
    4. Peterson K. Ozili, 2022. "Financial inclusion washing," Journal of Financial Crime, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 30(5), pages 1140-1149, August.
    5. Chao, Xiangrui & Kou, Gang & Peng, Yi & Viedma, Enrique Herrera, 2021. "Large-scale group decision-making with non-cooperative behaviors and heterogeneous preferences: An application in financial inclusion," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 288(1), pages 271-293.
    6. Chenjing Zhang & Qiaoge Li & Di Mao & Mancang Wang, 2023. "Research on the Threshold Effect of Internet Development on Regional Inclusive Finance in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-20, April.
    7. Leif Atle Beisland & Kwame Ohene Djan & Roy Mersland & Trond Randøy, 2021. "Measuring Social Performance in Social Enterprises: A Global Study of Microfinance Institutions," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 171(1), pages 51-71, June.
    8. repec:ags:aaea22:335439 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Yan Liu & Quaner Wen & Abbas Ali Chandio & Long Chen & Lu Gan, 2022. "Investment Risk Analysis for Green and Sustainable Planning of Rural Family: A Case Study of Tibetan Region," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-19, September.
    10. Lucia Dalla Pellegrina & Damla Diriker & Paolo Landoni & Davide Moro & Mahinda Wijesiri, 2024. "Financial and social sustainability in the European microfinance sector," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 63(3), pages 1249-1292, October.
    11. Lee, Chien-Chiang & Wang, Chih-Wei & Ho, Shan-Ju, 2022. "Financial aid and financial inclusion: Does risk uncertainty matter?," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    12. Weidong Chen & Xiaohui Yuan, 2021. "Financial inclusion in China: an overview," Frontiers of Business Research in China, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 1-21, December.
    13. Anh The Vo & Loan Thi-Hong Van & Duc Hong Vo & Michael Mcaleer, 2019. "Financial Inclusion And Macroeconomic Stability In Emerging And Frontier Markets," Annals of Financial Economics (AFE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 14(02), pages 1-15, June.
    14. Valentina Hartarska & Jingfang Zhang & Denis A. Nadolnyak, 2023. "Scope economies from rural and urban microfinance services," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 89(4), pages 1138-1167, April.
    15. Shubham Chavriya & Gagan Deep Sharma & Mandeep Mahendru, 2024. "Financial inclusion as a tool for sustainable macroeconomic growth: An integrative analysis," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 95(2), pages 527-551, June.
    16. Marc Audi & Chan Bibi & Khalil Ahmad, 2019. "Financial Inclusion, Economic Growth and Human Well-Being Nexus: Empirics from Pakistan, India, China, Sri-Lanka, Bangladesh and Malaysia," Bulletin of Business and Economics (BBE), Research Foundation for Humanity (RFH), vol. 8(4), pages 177-190, December.
    17. Balana, Bedru & Oyeyemi, Motunrayo, 2021. "Credit Constraints and Adoption of Agricultural Technologies in Developing Countries? Evidence from Nigeria," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315347, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    18. Nyanzu, Frederick, 2022. "The joint effects of financial literacy and women’s empowerment training, and financial inclusion on food security: Evidence from Ghana," 2022 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Anaheim, California 322160, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    19. Md Aslam Mia, 2024. "Loyalty of rural microfinance borrowers: International evidence," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 76(1), pages 67-94, January.
    20. Marek Hudon & Marc Labie & Patrick Reichert, 2020. "What is a Fair Level of Profit for Social Enterprise? Insights from Microfinance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 162(3), pages 627-644, March.
    21. Zhenyu Qi & Yuezhou You, 2024. "The Impact of the Rural Digital Economy on Agricultural Green Development and Its Mechanism: Empirical Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-23, April.
    22. Ali Raza & Guangji Tong & Vasilii Erokhin & Alexey Bobryshev & Lyubov Chaykovskaya & Natalya Malinovskaya, 2023. "Sustaining Performance of Wheat–Rice Farms in Pakistan: The Effects of Financial Literacy and Financial Inclusion," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-19, April.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:applec:v:50:y:2018:i:14:p:1555-1577. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RAEC20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.