"Spatial analysis of financial inclusion and the relation with poverty level in Mexican municipalities"

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine the importance of financial inclusion and spatial statistics regarding poverty at the municipal level in Mexico in 2010. To this end, it is proposed the use of techniques of spatial econometric analysis to evaluate the relationship between these concepts in the case of the municipalities of Mexico, including a set of control variables at the municipal level. The results of estimation of econometric models found that there is an important relationship between financial inclusion and poverty at the municipal level, although it depends on the definition used for financial inclusion. The empirical exercises were developed for the year 2010, so the results are not generalizable to the current dates, but provide evidence of that relationship in the recent past. The originality of this work is that the use of the methodology for the analysis of these cases had not previously given, highlighting the importance of territorial neighborhoods and the importance of space in designing solutions to problems of development. The paper concludes that there is a significant and positive causal relationship between financial inclusion and municipal poverty, which is more robust when space incorporates neighborhoods.