The digital revolution in financial inclusion: international development in the fintech era

Gabor, Daniela; Brooks, Sally

Abstract

© 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This paper examines the growing importance of digital-based financial inclusion as a form of organising development interventions through networks of state institutions, international development organisations, philanthropic investment and fintech companies. The fintech–philanthropy–development complex generates digital ecosystems that map, expand and monetise digital footprints. Its ‘know thy (irrational) customer’ vision combines behavioural economics with predictive algorithms to accelerate access to, and monitor engagement with, finance. The digital revolution adds new layers to the material cultures of financial(ised) inclusion, offering the state new ways of expanding the inclusion of the ‘legible’, and global finance new forms of ‘profiling’ poor households into generators of financial assets.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 7, 2016
• Online Publication Date: Nov 28, 2016
• Publication Date: Jul 4, 2017
• Deposit Date: Dec 14, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: May 28, 2018
• Journal: New Political Economy
• Print ISSN: 1356-3467
• Electronic ISSN: 1469-9923
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis (Routledge)
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 22
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 423-436
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13563467.2017.1259298
• Keywords: international development, fintech, financial inclusion, financialisation, behavioural economics
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/888354
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13563467.2017.1259298
• Additional Information: Additional Information : This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in New Political Economy on 28 November 2016, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/13563467.2017.1259298
• Contract Date: Feb 2, 2017