Financial Inclusion and Sustainable Growth: recent developments

Overview

Over the past years, many low-income countries have undergone extensive financial reforms. Despite these reforms, many households and enterprises, especially in Africa, are still unable to participate in the financial sector. While it is well known that financial institutions and markets can help induce economic growth, it is much less clear how financial development can become inclusive and kick start a process of sustainable economic growth with a positive effect on the poor.

This summer school will discuss the major developments regarding research on financial inclusion, including microfinance. It will shed much light on how financial inclusion can induce sustainable growth in low-income economies, with explicit attention to African countries. This one-week summer school will contain interactive lectures by the organisers from the University of Groningen (Netherlands), Université Laval (Canada), and Stellenbosch University (South Africa), as well as some guest speakers. Ample attention will be given to group discussions.

The course is organised around the following three main topics:

• impact of financial inclusion interventions: methods and applications;
• financial inclusion: financial innovation and cross border banking;
• financial products for financial inclusion.