Using data science to inform financial inclusion policy

该奖学金的主要目的是帮助改善应对金融排斥的政策，这可能使全球17亿无法获得银行服务的成年人受益（demirg<e:1> c- kunt et al., 2018）。获得主流金融服务（例如银行账户、信贷和保险）使个人能够积累储蓄，投资于教育或保健，并管理风险，从而可以改善其整体生活质量，并有助于减少社会中的不平等和贫困。另一方面，被排除在银行体系之外，剥夺了个人充分利用其资源、利用经济机会和参与当地经济的机会（Bermeo, 2019）。为了帮助解决金融排斥问题，我将通过我的博士研究成果，向学术界和非学术界的听众介绍全球范围内这一问题的现状；以及监管、法律和政策环境如何有助于将更多人，特别是妇女（世界上没有银行账户最多的成年人）纳入正规金融体系。首先，我将把我的博士数据的具体方面的分析写成三篇期刊文章发表。这些文章将对各国普惠金融的决定因素、普惠金融性别差距的驱动因素以及秘鲁普惠金融的重要因素进行开创性的多层次分析。通过这些出版物，我的目标是促使学术界就政策、法律和法规在推进普惠金融方面的作用展开辩论。其次，我将出席国际会议，参加圆桌讨论，并为公众写一个博客。这些活动将使我能够接触到非学术受众，并将主要集中在向政府决策者和从业者推广我的研究，以便他们能够解释我的发现并采取行动。第三，我将成为普惠金融论坛的重要成员。本次论坛为小额信贷学者和从业者提供了一个国际交流平台，将为我提供发展专业网络的机会，以建立我作为普惠金融专家的声誉，并提高我影响有关普惠金融全球议程辩论的能力。该奖学金的另一个目标是最大限度地发挥数据对普惠金融研究和政策的影响。首先，我将与英国金融市场行为监管局（FCA）和个人理财研究中心（PFRC）建立合作伙伴关系，开发一个大数据研究项目，向政策制定者通报英国金融包容性和能力的现状。其目的是促使人们就改善被排斥人口群体获得金融服务的机会所需采取的行动展开辩论。本研究将在奖学金结束后进行，并将使用FCA金融生活调查数据库。FCA对普惠金融的兴趣日益浓厚，例如发表了一篇关于获得金融服务的临时论文（Collard et. al., 2016）；以及指导社会房东如何帮助租户找到高成本信贷的替代方案（FCA, 2018）。其次，我将接受高级机器学习的培训，以获得开展（奖学金之后）这个大数据研究项目的技能。这次培训将为我提供分析和利用金融机构产生的前所未有的信息增长的技能（例如，交易，产品使用和客户特征），目的是帮助告知金融普惠政策和实践。第三，我将申请学术研究资助（可能是ESRC Secondary Data Analysis Initiative）来支持这个研究项目。

The main aim of this fellowship is to help improve policy response to tackle financial exclusion, which could benefit the 1.7 billion adults around the world who have no access to banking services (Demirgüc-Kunt et al., 2018). Having access to mainstream financial services (e.g. bank accounts, credit, and insurance) allows individuals to build up savings, invest in education or health, and manage risks, which can improve the overall quality of their lives, and help reduce inequality and poverty in the society. Being excluded from the banking system, on the other hand, deprives individuals of the opportunity to make the most of their resources, take advantage of economic opportunities, and take part in their local economies (Bermeo, 2019).To contribute to tackling financial exclusion, I will inform, through my PhD findings, academic and non-academic audiences on the state of this issue across the globe; and how the regulatory, legal and policy environment can help include more people, especially women (the most unbanked adults worldwide) into the formal financial system. Firstly, I will write up an analysis of specific aspects of my PhD data into three journal articles for publication. These articles will feature pioneering multilevel analysis of the determinants of financial inclusion across countries, the drivers of the financial inclusion gender gap, and the factors that matter for financial inclusion in Peru. Through these publications, I aim at prompting debate among academics about the role of policies, laws and regulations in advancing financial inclusion. Secondly, I will present at international conferences, participate in roundtable discussions and write a blog for the general public. These activities will allow me to reach non-academic audiences and will be mainly focused on promoting my research among government policy-makers and practitioners so that they can interpret and act upon my findings. Thirdly, I will become an influential member of the Financial Inclusion Forum. This Forum, which offers an international networking platform for microfinance academics and practitioners, will provide me with the opportunity to develop professional networks to build my reputation as financial inclusion expert and improve my ability to influence the debate about the financial inclusion global agenda.Another aim of this fellowship is to maximise the impact of data on financial inclusion research and policy. Firstly, I will establish partnerships with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Personal Finance Research Centre (PFRC) to develop a big data research project to inform policymakers on the current state of financial inclusion and capability across the UK. The aim is to prompt debate about actions needed to improve access to financial services among excluded population groups. This study will be conducted after the fellowship and will use the FCA Financial Lives Survey database. The FCA has signaled a growing interest in financial inclusion, for example publishing an Occasional Paper on access to financial services (Collard et. al., 2016); and guidance for social landlords around helping tenants find alternatives to high-cost credit (FCA, 2018). Secondly, I will undertake training in advanced machine learning to acquire the skills to carry out (following the fellowship) this big data research project. This training will provide me with the skills to analyse and take advantage of the unprecedented growth of information generated by financial institutions (e.g., transactions, product usage, and customer characteristics), with the aim of helping to inform financial inclusion policy and practice. Thirdly, I will apply for an academic research grant (possibly the ESRC Secondary Data Analysis Initiative) to support this research project.