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Report: Cash Usage Rising In Both Developed, Emerging Markets
Despite predictions that cash is going the way of the dodo bird, a new study by the Bank for International Settlements found that notion is more bluster than reality.
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Most Influential Post Nominee: The UBI Debate: What We Know – and Don’t Know – About Universal Basic Income
Policymakers from Nairobi to Silicon Valley have lately been considering the same approach to reducing poverty: universal basic income (UBI). Evidence from ongoing randomized evaluations will be key to understanding the impact of UBI, and how this disruptive concept might fit into a broader portfolio of social policies. In the meantime, there is much we already know from impact evaluations of related interventions that can help make sense of the debate. Alison Fahey at J-PAL provides an overview.
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- Uncategorized
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Most Influential Post Nominee: Why the Crusade Against Cash Isn’t Clearly ‘Pro-Poor’ – UPDATED
Many assume that getting rid of cash in the name of financial inclusion would unequivocally be a good thing for the poor. Phil Mader says it's too early to say – and that cash might have insufficiently recognized advantages, including being free to use, anonymous and under public stewardship. And besides, he argues, if the mission is poverty alleviation, it’s not money’s physical form, but how it's distributed, that matters.
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- Technology
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Going Cashless? Bad for Tax Cheats, Privacy, Poor
Could physical cash go away entirely? Economists see great payoffs in a cashless society: lower transaction costs, new tools to manage economic growth and an end to tax evasion and money laundering. Critics see an end to privacy, frightening new powers for tyrants and costs that would fall disproportionately on the poor.
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- Technology
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Commentary: The Surprising Resilience of Cash Transactions
While Singapore, the Netherlands, France, Sweden and Switzerland are among the least cash reliant countries, in Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Peru and Egypt, only 1 per cent of transactions are cashless. Even some highly advanced countries, such as Japan, are still highly reliant on cash.
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Safaricom and mSurvey launch Consumer Wallet to map Africa’s cash economy
Kenya’s leading mobile provider, Safaricom, is teaming up with data collection startup mSurvey to launch Consumer Wallet ― an online platform using mobile and SMS to map Africa’s cash-based economy.
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- Technology
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Social Business Roundup: A Defiant Asset Manager, Salty Doorknobs and Who Has it Worse?
This week in social business, the world's third-largest asset manager is pressuring companies to add more women to their boards; a Nobel Prize winner's ponderings on inequality within nations might make you rethink life in America; and salt earns a chance to be a hero – for a change.
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- Energy, Entrepreneurship, Environment, Health Care, Investing, NextBillion Originals
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Unlocking the Power of Digital Financial Services for Humanitarian Response
More people worldwide are in crisis than ever before and the humanitarian sector is transforming how it responds to them; it's moving away from a commodities-based approach toward cash-based assistance. Digitizing these cash payments can help build bridges between the humanitarian and development sectors, but progress has been slow. What can speed it up? A new report by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation might help.
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- Inclusive Fintech, Technology
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