Effect of Economic Growth, Human Development, and Governance Factors on Financial Inclusion; A Cross Country Comparative Analysis

Financial inclusion is considered as a befitting support to help in economic development. This inclusion's gaining currency far and wide as different researchers and policymakers try to probe further into the matter along with its direct or indirect association with the economic and other (external) indicators. The designed pattern of this study underscores financial inclusion in the developed and developing states along with those macro-economic indicators and other factors that (somehow) influence this level of inclusivity. This study examines the effect of economic indicators (GDP, and inflation), human development (HDI), and governance factors (WGI) on financial inclusion; it further draws a comparative analysis for both the developed and developing countries. To assess the healthiness of this level of this inclusion in any state, Financial Access Survey (IMF), along with economic variables i.e., GDP and inflation, and different indexes (HDI and WGI) have vastly been assessed to determine the level of their influence. With the help of factor analysis through PCA, a single factors been determined to envisage its association with the macro-economic indicators and indexes. In the context of comparative and collaborative analysis, the dynamic panel regression (GMM) has been performed. The results of the t-test of equality of means represent that the high quality institutions strengthen the monetary side of the country and, thus, its level of financial inclusion in comparison to the low quality institutions. Moreover, a high level of HDI provides a certain entry into the financial markets and purely benefits the level inclusion and economic development. The comparative results of this study indicate that financial inclusion is directly influenced by GDP, HDI, and Governance within the economy, however, inflation does show a negative association with the developed and developing states. Empirical and theoretical evidences suggest that financial inclusion per se doesn't drive the better economic development but also those external factors that play a vital role in a cogent way to bolster the overall economic and monetary development in any state.