Investigation of the importance of cognitive abilities for the financial inclusion of households in Kenya

认知能力对肯尼亚家庭普惠金融重要性的调查

• 批准号: 536269867
• 负责人: Professor Dr. Oliver Mußhoff
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: Lehrstuhl für Landwirtschaftliche Betriebslehre
• 依托单位国家: 德国
• 项目类别: Research Grants
• 资助国家: 德国
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/536269867?language=en
• 关键词: Investigation; importance; cognitive; abilities; financial

Financial inclusion, especially of marginalized households, is considered an important goal in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals. However, in order to reduce the number of 1.4 billion financially excluded households, further scientific knowledge is required. In particular, the role of cognitive functions in this context has received little attention in the scientific literature. Four research packages in this project can make a relevant contribution to the understanding of the relationship between cognitive abilities and financial inclusion. In particular, access to credit constitutes an important pillar of financial inclusion. In the literature on this topic, access to credit is associated with both opportunities, e.g. poverty reduction, and risks, e.g. over-indebtedness, for consumers. However, to the knowledge of the applicant, the role of cognitive functions has not yet been considered in this literature stream. The first two research packages therefore aim to narrow down these important research gaps. The first research package examines the role of risk aversion as an explanatory mechanism for the potential relationship between cognitive abilities and access to credit by employing a mediational model. The second research package therefore uses regression analyses to examine the relationship between cognitive abilities and loan defaults. The results of these analyses build a necessary foundation for further scientific studies. There is a further need for research in the area of financial inclusion in relation to digital financial services (DFS). Specifically, the question of whether DFS actually increase financial inclusion for rural households remains unanswered. For example, systematically lower cognitive functions in rural areas could hinder the usability of and thus access to DFS. The third research package in this project therefore deals with the investigation of how the use of and access to DFS changes along an urban-rural continuum. In particular, the role cognitive abilities is to be examined. The analysis is also carried out using a mediation model, in which the use of DFS forms the independent variable and the urban-rural continuum the dependent variable; cognitive abilities manifest an explanatory mechanism. This research has direct relevance for policy makers and providers of DFS. The aforementioned correlation between ability to use DFS and cognitive functions further raise the question of whether cognitive abilities also moderate the effects of DFS. To answer this question, a regression model is to be estimated in which the explanatory variable is the interaction between cognitive abilities and the use of DFS and the dependent variable is the consumption smoothing ability of households. Various statistical methods such as propensity score matchings or instrumental variable estimation shall be estimated and compared. The results of these investigations are of direct importance for political decision-makers.

金融包容性，特别是边缘化家庭的金融包容性，被认为是实现联合国可持续发展目标的一个重要目标。然而，为了减少14亿被排除在经济之外的家庭的数量，需要进一步的科学知识。特别是，在这种情况下，认知功能的作用在科学文献中很少受到关注。 该项目的四个研究包可以为理解认知能力与金融包容性之间的关系做出相关贡献。特别是，获得信贷是金融包容性的一个重要支柱。在有关这一专题的文献中，获得信贷既与机会有关，如减贫，也与风险有关，如消费者过度负债。然而，据申请人所知，在该文献流中尚未考虑认知功能的作用。因此，前两个研究包旨在缩小这些重要的研究差距。第一个研究包采用中介模型探讨了风险厌恶作为认知能力与信贷获取之间潜在关系的解释机制的作用。因此，第二个研究包使用回归分析来研究认知能力和贷款违约之间的关系。这些分析的结果为进一步的科学研究奠定了必要的基础。此外，还需要进一步研究与数字金融服务（DFS）有关的金融包容性领域。具体而言，DFS是否实际上增加了农村家庭的金融包容性的问题仍然没有答案。例如，农村地区认知功能的系统性降低可能会阻碍DFS的可用性，从而阻碍DFS的获得。因此，本项目的第三个研究包涉及如何使用和获得DFS的变化沿着城乡连续体的调查。特别是，要检查角色认知能力。本文还采用中介模型进行了分析，其中DFS的使用是自变量，城乡连续体是因变量;认知能力体现了解释机制。这项研究对决策者和DFS提供者有直接的相关性。上述使用DFS的能力和认知功能之间的相关性进一步提出了认知能力是否也调节DFS的影响的问题。为了回答这个问题，需要估计一个回归模型，其中解释变量是认知能力和DFS使用之间的相互作用，因变量是家庭的消费平滑能力。应估计和比较各种统计方法，如倾向评分匹配或工具变量估计。这些调查的结果对政治决策者具有直接的重要性。