Magister Commercii - MCom / The literature on financial inclusion and poverty connections has received considerable attention recently. There exist a scarcity of local studies examining the relationship between financial inclusion (FI) and poverty. Precisely, there is a lack of local studies who previously used FinScope data to investigate the mentioned relationship in South Africa. This study is motivated to fill the gap. To achieve the aims, the study will source data from FinScope (a secondary data) for the periods of 2011 and 2016. The Foster-Greer-Thorbecke indices were used to measure the level of poverty, while the lower-bound poverty (LBPL) line was used to differentiate the poor from the non-poor. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was also applied to derive the financial inclusion index (FII). Probit regressions were run to measure the likelihood of being poor and being financially excluded. Ordinary Least Squares were run to identify the nature of the relationship between the dependent and the independent variables. Lastly, bivariate regression was also run to test the relationship between poverty and financial exclusion.

Magister Commercii - MCom / People residing in rural areas generally struggle with many socio-economic problems, such as transport, health access, employment opportunities, poverty, inequality, access to essential services and facilities (e.g., piped water, electricity) as well as access to financial services. The global community has over the years came up with progressive measures directed at economic development and improvement of living standards, with one of them being financial inclusion (FI). FI is seen as one of the strategies to eradicate poverty, reduce unemployment and inequality as well as enhancing an inclusive economic growth. This study investigated financial inclusion in rural households of South Africa, using the Finscope data (2011 and 2016), with the aim of examining the extent of financial inclusion in rural households.

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No / The article examines the contribution of financial development to poverty reduction in developing countries. Building on earlier research which has established links between financial development and economic growth, and between economic growth and poverty reduction, the article tests for a causal process linking financial sector growth and poverty reduction. The empirical results indicate that, up to a threshold level of economic development, financial sector growth contributes to poverty reduction through the growth-enhancing effect. The impact of financial development on poverty reduction will be affected, however, by any change in income inequality resulting from financial development.

Yes / In this study we examine disparities in financial development at the regional level in India. The major research questions of the study are: How do we measure the level of financial development at the sub-national level? How unequal is financial development across the states? Does it vary by ownership of financial institutions? To explore these research questions, our study develops composite banking development index at the sub-national level for three different bank groups - public, private and foreign for 25 Indian states covering 1996 - 2015. Our findings suggest that despite reforms, banking development is significantly higher in the leading high income and more developed regions compared to lagging ones. Further, we find that all bank groups including public banks are concentrated more in the developed regions. Overall, over the years the position of top three and bottom three states in the aggregate banking index has remained unchanged reflecting lop-sidedness of regional development. We also note improvement in the ranking of some north-eastern states during the period 2009-15.

No / A huge body of literature has well acknowledged the crucial role played by financial sector in economic growth. Financial sector enables mobilisation of savings and allocation of credit for production and investment. Among its other functions are supplying transaction and portfolio management services and providing payment services, and source of liquidity for the firms. Financial sector also monitors borrowers, matches illiquid assets with liquid liabilities, and integrates credit and liquidity provision functions (Bossone, 2000). Banks boost economic growth by identifying the entrepreneurs with the best chances of successfully initiating new goods and production processes (King & Levine, 1993) and facilitate long-run investments in the high return projects (Bencivenga & Smith, 1991). In this chapter we examine the role of financial sector in achieving economic growth and development. We also briefly look at the factors determining financial development.

The relationship between financial development and economic growth is an important issue for both developed and developing countries through which the extent of economic growth and the sophistication of the country’s financial markets are linked. The research studies the existence of a relationship between financial development and economic growth using a sample of BRICS and G-7 countries for the period of 1996 to 2013. The study objective was to conduct a comparative analysis of the relationship between financial development and economic growth within BRICS and G-7 countries. A panel data analysis was used to analyse secondary data from 5 BRICS countries (Brazil. Russia, India, China and South Africa) and G-7 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan and United States).Variables used include, economic growth, stock market capitalisation, total investment growth, interest rates and population growth. This study found that real interest rates and total investment is positively related to economic growth in both BRICS and G-7; while other variables such as stock market size, do play a significant role in explaining economic growth in both BRICS and G-7 countries and insignificant variables such as population growth. Findings of this study suggests there are no major difference between developed and developing countries with regards to their financial development and economic growth. This study may assist BRICS and G-7 countries to improve their economic growth structure and financial development systems over time.

The relationship between financial development and economic growth is an important issue for both developed and developing countries through which the extent of economic growth and the sophistication of the country’s financial markets are linked. The research studies the existence of a relationship between financial development and economic growth using a sample of BRICS and G-7 countries for the period of 1996 to 2013. The study objective was to conduct a comparative analysis of the relationship between financial development and economic growth within BRICS and G-7 countries. A panel data analysis was used to analyse secondary data from 5 BRICS countries (Brazil. Russia, India, China and South Africa) and G-7 countries (Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan and United States).Variables used include, economic growth, stock market capitalisation, total investment growth, interest rates and population growth. This study found that real interest rates and total investment is positively related to economic growth in both BRICS and G-7; while other variables such as stock market size, do play a significant role in explaining economic growth in both BRICS and G-7 countries and insignificant variables such as population growth. Findings of this study suggests there are no major difference between developed and developing countries with regards to their financial development and economic growth. This study may assist BRICS and G-7 countries to improve their economic growth structure and financial development systems over time.

What are the main macroeconomic factors that help understand economic growth in Brazil since 1870? Are institutions (and changes in institutions) a deep cause of economic growth in Brazil? Are these effects fundamentally and systematically different? Does the intensity and the direction (the sign) of these effects vary over time, in general and, in particular, do they vary with respect to short- versus long-run considerations? This thesis tries to answer these questions focusing on within country over long periods of time. It uses the power-ARCH (PARCH) econometric framework with annual time series from 1870 to 2003. The results suggest that financial development (domestic and international) exhibit the most robust first-order effects on growth and its volatility. Political instability, trade openness and public deficit play important yet secondary roles since the effects of the first two do not extent to the long-run (that is, they are restricted to the short-run) and those off the latter are sensitive to the measures of the variables used in our analysis.