
The long-run poverty and gender impacts of mobile money - Mz
http://science.sciencemag.org/content/354/6317/1288.full
======
SkyMarshal
There's a lot of talk these days about providing financial services to the
"unbanked", but I'm skeptical. I think of it in this way:

Question: Can the provision of financial services to the unbanked (and
"unmonied") reduce poverty and inequality, ceteris paribus?

Null hypothesis: In the absence of robust means of creating or obtaining
wealth or money, along with non-discriminatory property rights, no it cannot.
Financial services follow the money, they don't precede it (b/c they're not a
charity and they require money to make money).

Article: _However, notwithstanding the short-term economic benefits of
consumption smoothing, whether such a transformative financial innovation
could also help to raise the level of consumption and lift people out of
poverty over the longer term remained unresolved._

Sounds like these digital financial services smooth transactions and economic
activity, but if you're looking to jumpstart or grow it you still need a
strong focus on wealth creation activities.

