About 2.5 billion adults, just over half the world's adult population, lack bankaccounts. If we are to realize the goal of extending banking and other financial services to thisvast "unbanked" population, we need to consider not only such product innovations asmicrofinance and mobile banking but also issues of data accuracy, impact assessment, riskmitigation, technology adaptation, financial literacy, and local context. In Banking the World, experts take up these topics, reporting on new research thatwill guide both policy makers and scholars in a broader push to extend financial markets. Thecontributors consider such topics as the complexity of surveying people about their use of financialservices; evidence of the impact of financial services on income; the occasional negative effects offinancial services on poor households, including disincentives to work and overindebtedness; andtools for improving access such as nontraditional credit scores, financial incentives for banking,and identification technologies that can dramatically reduce loan default rates.
