Over 30 percent of the world's adults lack access to basic financial
tools - more often women, members of minority groups, and poor families.
The ability to buy what you need, when you need it, to put money aside
for the future, and to withstand bad luck without financial ruin seem
like basic elements of life in a functioning economy. But life is not
that simple for people who lack financial tools. In fact, the tighter
the budget, the more you need and benefit from financial services.
Financial inclusion, or to put another way, having the tools necessary
to take control of one's finances and make progress towards one's goals,
is essential to a just and fair society.
In Financial Inclusion: What Everyone Needs to Know(R) , prominent
experts Jonathan Morduch and Timothy Ogden explain in straightforward
language how the lack of financial inclusion reinforces broader
inequities in our society. Using their extensive backgrounds in finance,
technology, economic change, and inequality, Morduch and Ogden detail
efforts to guarantee that all people, rich and poor, have access to
quality financial services and the ability to make prudent financial
choices.
Framed by the simple concept of equal access, this book explains the
mechanisms of one of the most contentious and misunderstood parts of
modern economics by answering a few core questions: What is financial
inclusion? Why does it matter? How does it work? When doesn't it work?
What are the risks? and How can more people be included?
