Year: 2022
Type: article
Abstract: Fintech, which delivers financial services digitally, promises to promote financial inclusion and close gender gap. Using a novel fintech dataset for 114 economies worldwide, this paper shows that fintech adoption significantly improves female employment and reduces gender inequality, the effect being more pronounced in firms without traditional financial access. Fintech not only increases the number and ratio of female employees in the workforce, but also mitigates financial constraints of female-headed firms. Digital divide and poor institutions weaken such benefits. Endogeneity is accounted for by a fixed effects identification strategy and an instrumental variable approach. We conclude by outlining avenues for future research.
Source: IMF Working Paper
Authors: Boileau Loko, Yuanchen Yang
Institution: International Monetary Fund
Language: English
Subfield: Management Information Systems
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4283071392