Remittances and financial inclusion: evidence from El Salvador

Diego Anzoategui, Asli Demirguc-Kunt and Maria Soledad Martinez Peria

No 5839, Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank

Abstract: This paper investigates the impact of remittances on financial inclusion. This is an important issue given recent studies showing that financial inclusion can have significant beneficial effects on households. Using household-level survey data for El Salvador, the authors examine the impact of remittances on households'use of savings and credit instruments from formal financial institutions. They find that although remittances have a positive impact on financial inclusion by promoting the use of deposit accounts, they do not have a significant and robust effect on the demand for and use of credit from formal institutions. If anything, by relaxing credit constraints, remittances might reduce the need for external financing from financial institutions, while at the same time increasing the demand for savings instruments.

Keywords: Access to Finance; Debt Markets; Population Policies; Remittances; Economic Theory&Research (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011-10-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev, nep-mfd and nep-mig
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Remittances and Financial Inclusion: Evidence from El Salvador (2014)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5839

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