TITLE:
Financial Inclusion and Economic Development: An Analysis under the Brazilian Context
AUTHORS:
Clodoaldo Barbosa dos Santos, Fabio Gallo Garcia, Elmo Tambosi Filho
KEYWORDS:
Economic Development, Financial Inclusion, Brazil
JOURNAL NAME:
Theoretical Economics Letters,
Vol.11 No.6,
December
17,
2021
ABSTRACT: This paper investigates whether financial inclusion
contributes to economic development in Brazil. The research was developed
through descriptive statistical analysis, in addition to statistical regression
and correlation, using secondary data collected from the Central Bank of Brazil
(BACEN), United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and International Monetary
Fund (IMF). The study period of the project comprised the years 2004 to 2017.
As a result of the work, we found that there is a positive statistical
correlation between financial inclusion and economic development in Brazil,
demonstrated in the Pearson correlation matrix, indicated by the dependent
variable of human development (HDI) and the independent variables, used as a
proxy for financial inclusion, the number of bank branches and the currency
liquidity index in Brazil. The values found were 0.899 and 0.938 respectively. Thus demonstrating that
financial inclusion is an important drive for economic development, promoted
through the access, use and quality of formal financial systems, and
contributes to economic development in Brazil.