Abstract

ORAZI, Sofía; MARTINEZ, Lisana B.  and  VIGIER, Hernán P.. Financial Inclusion in Latin America and Europe. Ens. Econ. [online]. 2019, vol.29, n.55, pp.181-204.  Epub Mar 14, 2020. ISSN 0121-117X.  https://doi.org/10.15446/ede.v29n55.79425.

Financial inclusion is defined as the level of access and use of financial services and is an incipient subject in literature. It is of major importance in the development of sustainable and inclusive economic systems. The present study aims to analyze the way in which a group of Latin American and European countries are clustered together in terms of their levels of financial inclusion and the performance of these groups between 2011, 2014 and 2017, using data from the Global Findex database. The analysis method is hierarchical clustering. It is observed that there are two large groups of countries, one of high and another of low financial inclusion, and some other more dynamic groups with intermediate levels of access and use of financial services. While the group with high financial inclusion, formed by most of the European countries, has been more homogeneous over the years, the clustering of Latin American countries has been more dynamic. Those countries that have implemented integrated public policies, in terms of the promotion and funding of financial inclusion, have had a remarkably better performance in these years.

JEL: G23; O16; O17; C38; N26; N24.

Keywords : financial inclusion; hierarchical clustering; Latin America; Europe.

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