National Culture and Financial Inclusion: Evidence from Belt and Road Economies

Abstract

Financial Inclusion is a key factor in achieving the sustainable development goals of the United Nations. The research in the area of financial inclusion is becoming more critical for scholars and policymakers. In previous studies, effects of formal institutions on financial inclusion have been explored. However, influence of informal institutions (culture) on financial inclusion remained untapped. To fill this gap, we investigate how national culture affects the financial inclusion of 81 Belt and Road economies using 17 years of data from 2004 to 2020. The empirical findings of the two-stage least square (2SLS) show that Hofstede’s cultural dimensions are significantly associated with financial inclusion with different signs and levels of magnitude. We find that financial inclusion is lower in countries where uncertainty avoidance and power distance is high and that the opposite is true for individualism and masculinity. The overall results are reliable to a series of robustness checks and provide a useful basis for policymakers, regulatory agencies, and other stakeholders in achieving the sustainable development goal of financial inclusion in Belt and Road countries.