Financial Inclusion and Economic Complexity in Mexico

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to examine the relationship between financial inclusion and economic complexity in Mexico. An empirical study was developed calculating the Index of Economic Complexity and the Index of Financial Inclusion (access and use) for the year 2018. Subsequently, we performed a descriptive analysis, correlational and Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis. The results show that financial inclusion and economic complexity have an intense, direct and significant correlation, as well as a positive spatial correlation. The value of the empirical evidence is that the poles with high economic complexity are poles of financial inclusion (use) and the zones with low significant complexity are sectors of financial exclusion (access). The limitation of the research is that it is based only on two of the four dimensions of financial inclusion. The originality of the study lies in the fact that: a) there are no previous studies of the relationship between financial inclusion and complexity, and b) complexity was calculated through a better proxy of industrial capabilities and municipal data.