Unlocking access to credit through technological innovation

Unlocking access to credit through technological innovation

by Paul Gertler, Brett Green, Catherine Wolfram

The proliferation of mobile technologies and digital payments systems have the potential to radically change the credit market landscape in developing economies. In this project we will explore how a combination of these recent advances have facilitated an innovative fi nancial contract that utilizes a new form of collateral, which is designed to enhance technology adoption and access to collateralized borrowing the developing world. We will then explore the extent to which this collateral can be \re-used” to provide poor households with a ordable and recurrent access to credit markets.