Digital Financial Inclusion and Economic Growth: A Cross-country Study

Abstract

This paper constructs a digital financial inclusion evaluation system suitable for cross-country comparison. It uses the data of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to calculate the index of digital financial inclusion, and measure the level of digital financial inclusion in 105 countries. Then, we examine the relations between digital financial inclusion and economic growth by using spatial data and techniques for 86 neighboring countries. Our findings display that digital financial inclusion has a significantly positive effect on economic growth, and has spatial spillover effects on neighboring countries.