Financial Lives Research Articles

A Systematic Review of Financial Intermediaries Research

The purpose of this study is to conduct a systematic review on Financial Intermediaries (FI) with a view to review extant discourses, identify gaps and provide directions for future research in this area. The Systematic Assessment Quantitative Technique (SQAT) developed by Australian researchers Catherine Pickering and Jason Anthony Bryn in (2013), was used to identify and review 43 peer- reviewed Financial Intermediaries (FI) articles from ten high quality academic databases. The primary focus of FI articles in this review were on nine themes and two theories were predominant. The various themes developed from literatures were discussed. The findings of this study would look to guide policy planners and managers on the integral role of financial intermediaries in their daily activities stressing how its overarching function cuts across all facets our financial lives.

COVID-19 AND RISK INVOLVEMENT IN THE BANKING SECTOR OF BANGLADESH: A STUDY

Covid-19 pandemic has arrived at a widespread risky situation in our individual, financial and communal lives. Now the whole world is thrilled by the cruel clutch of the corona virus and its victim is the global economy. The study focuses on discovering the risk involved in Covid-19 of the banking sector in Bangladesh. Qualitative approach was used to attain the purpose of this study. The study revealed that Covid-19 has a countless effect on the economy and on the banking sector in Bangladesh. In the critical moment of , Bangladeshi banking sector faces huge financial losses, increasing non-performing loans, individual investment and decreasing operating profits. Bank employees are affected seriously for performing their daily activities. They are passing their days with great fear.

The financial lives of female sex workers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Implications for economic strengthening interventions for HIV prevention

ABSTRACT Understanding the financial context of the lives of female sex workers (FSWs) is essential to address structural drivers of HIV risk. We used a financial diary methodology to record daily financial transactions over six weeks from a stratified purposive sample (n = 34) of FSWs in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. FSWs also provided information on their experience with gender-based violence and condom use. FSWs generated 90.1% of total cash from sex work, with a median weekly income of USD 60.53. They engaged mostly in protected vaginal sex, earning approximately USD 4.57 per act. Food, housing, and clothing represented the largest areas of expenditure. Around 17% of expenses were recorded as costs of sex work (e.g., alcohol). Median weekly expenditures accounted for 62% of median weekly income. Nearly all participants reported depositing money into savings at least once over six weeks, while 71% reported a loan transaction during the six-week period, most as borrowers. Findings suggest that financial literacy and formalized savings activities, with life skills and empowerment training, have potential to build FSW’s economic resilience, mitigating a structural driver of sex work and HIV risk.

RIGHT REALISM AND THE REALIST CRIMINOLOGY: THE AMERICAN CRIMINOLOGIST'S APPROACH

The hypothetical criminology has nearly ground to a complete stop. There have been a couple of curious commitments to existing positions in recent a long time but the common drift is very clear. Criminologists these days appear destined to repeat thoughts from the twentieth century, and there shows up to be an articulated fear of really hatching modern thoughts and positions that are items of a thoroughgoing basic cross-examination of our research conjuncture. Criminologists have generally fizzled to require a lead in clarifying and tackling the significant problems we confront nowadays. These issues are as well various to relate in full detail here, but for us, the foremost outstanding are the inescapable danger of environmental catastrophe, the control of worldwide capital continually to disturb the moral and financial lives of regular individuals, the growth of worldwide criminal markets that work off the factual radar, and the development of the securitization device. So the main purpose of this research paper is to clarify the inter-effective approach, countenance capacity, and rational realist application between general criminologists and realists.

The Financial Lives and Capabilities of Women Engaged in Sex Work: Can Paradoxical Autonomy Inform Intervention Strategies?

Despite growing attention to structural approaches to HIV prevention, including economic empowerment interventions for key populations, few studies examine the financial lives of women engaged in sex work (WESW) and even fewer examine the financial lives of those who also use drugs. The purpose of this paper is to examine the financial status, sex work involvement, and individual and structural vulnerabilities of women involved in sex work and drug use in Kazakhstan. We used baseline data from Project Nova, a cluster-randomized controlled trial that tested the efficacy of a combined HIV risk reduction and microfinance intervention for WESW in two cities in Kazakhstan. We collected data on income, savings, debt, sex work, drug use, homelessness, food insecurity, HIV status, attitudes towards safety, and financial knowledge from 400 participants through computer-assisted self-interview techniques. Descriptive statistics were utilized to describe and characterize the sample and aforementioned measures. Findings illustrate the paradoxical nature of sex work, wherein women may achieve economic independence despite the great adversities they encounter in their daily lives and work. The majority of women (65%) in this study reported being the highest income earner in the household, caring for up to 3 dependents, and demonstrated entrepreneurial characteristics and aspirations for the future. However, many were still living below the poverty line (72.5%), as well as experiencing high levels of homelessness (58%) and food insecurity (89.5%). Study findings underscore the need for better understanding of the existing capabilities of WESW and those who use drugs, including financial autonomy and community supports, that may guide the design of programs that most effectively promote women's economic well-being and ensure that it is not at the expense of wellness and safety. Designing such programs requires incorporating a social justice lens into social work and public health interventions, including HIV prevention, and attention to the human rights of the most marginalized and highest risk populations, including WESW and those who use drugs.

Borrowing channels, purposes, and household investment and consumption: evidence from Nepal

AbstractDespite the expansion of the formal financial sector in recent decades, informal credit continues to play an important role in the financial lives of households in low‐income countries. Using panel data from nationally representative household surveys conducted in Nepal in 2003/04 and 2010/11, this paper investigates how borrowing from different channels (formal and informal) and for different purposes (production and consumption) is associated with household investment and consumption expenditure. Findings from a fixed effects regression analysis indicate that formal and informal loans are used to finance different spending needs, and intended credit purposes tend to reflect actual spending of borrowed funds. The level of household investment or consumption spending depends on the interaction between borrowing channels and purposes. This study can inform the efforts to improve household access to affordable and reliable financial services.

Examining the financial knowledge of immigrants in Canada: a new dimension of economic inequality

ABSTRACT Immigrant populations in developed societies face challenges to economic integration and are at high risk for financial precarity. Both structural and individual factors may contribute to the precarious financial lives of immigrants. Financial knowledge, which refers to individuals’ understanding of everyday finances, is considered one of the individual-level factors that influence individuals’ financial well-being. To date, limited work has examined the financial knowledge of immigrant populations. In this study, we used data from the 2009 and 2014 Canadian Financial Capability Survey (N = 22,204) to understand the levels of financial knowledge of immigrants. Our findings suggest that immigrants have significantly lower levels of financial knowledge than their Canadian-born counterparts. Among immigrants, those with a shorter stay in Canada have significantly lower levels of financial knowledge compared to those with a longer stay. Some other groups, such as older adults, females, and those with lower levels of education and income have lower levels of financial knowledge than other groups, which puts them at higher risk for financial fraud, abuse, and exploitation. Building financial knowledge and adopting inclusionary financial policies will help protect immigrant populations from financial vulnerability and enhance their financial well-being.

Driving Runaway Debt: How IDR’s Current Design Buries Borrowers Under Billions of Dollars in Unaffordable Interest

This report highlights how the design of the main protection meant to deliver affordability to federal student loan borrowers, Income-Driven Repayment (IDR), ignores the widespread effects that runaway student loan balances have across borrowers’ financial lives. Drawing on extensive research, the report shows how IDR’s failure to consider the massive costs and consequences student loan borrowers face turns IDR into a debt trap for millions. The report calls on President Biden to take action to fix IDR by ending the phenomenon of runaway student loan balances for borrowers in IDR and making other key changes.

Family Cash Balances, Income, and Expenditures Trends Through 2021: A Distributional Perspective

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in unprecedented economic changes that impacted families’ financial positions. In this report, the JPMorgan Chase Institute uses administrative banking data to assess checking account balances in conjunction with household income and spending. We analyze activity from 1.7 million families who were active checking account users between December 2018 and January 2021 to understand changes in household finances during the COVID-19 pandemic. We find that cash balances temporarily increased by roughly 70 percent after the arrival of stimulus payments in April 2020 and January 2021, with lower-income and younger account holders experiencing the largest balance increases on a percent basis. Balances fell continuously after the stimulus payments, with faster spend-down for families that are lower-income, younger, or working in essential industries. Furthermore, the mechanisms for initial pandemic balance increases differed by family income. Despite greater job losses, low-income families experienced balance increases driven by increases in income, due in part to government supports. High-income families, in contrast, experienced balance increases despite decreases in account inflows because of large concurrent decreases in account outflows. Altogether, our results offer new insights into families’ financial lives and cash balances during the COVID-19 pandemic, and contribute to the ongoing understanding of the economic impacts of the pandemic and associated government supports.

Do High Schools Choose Financial Education Policies Based on Their Neighbors?

Financial Education courses required for high school graduation make a difference in students' future financial lives. Given that schools exercise local control, there are a variety of types of courses offered and required by US high schools. It remains unclear why and where this variation exists. Using a novel data set of unique high school personal finance course offerings and requirements paired with distances between high schools in the US, we approximate a network of nearby peer high schools. We use this network of peer schools to measure the potential influence of nearby schools on an individual high school's decision to offer financial education courses. We find that high schools are more likely to require or offer financial education courses similar to those of their peer schools. Having an additional peer that incorporates financial education into their curriculum makes it more likely a high school will change their curriculum to do the same. This is true across types of courses: required standalone courses, required courses that incorporate but do not solely focus on personal finance, and standalone electives. The results indicate that schools' nearby peers are related to what types of services to offer their students, and these networks are more predictive than economic or demographic characteristics of the school in determining personal finance course requirements. Local networks can potentially provide momentum in expanding access to financial education.

Relief for Servicemembers and Veterans

Policymakers have long acknowledged the link between financial readiness and military readiness and that unique financial stresses imposed by military life can impede America’s national security. In fact, Congress has repeatedly taken steps to mitigate the acute financial burden servicemembers face by crafting military-specific protections during repayment of consumer debt, including interest rate caps and servicing requirements when military consumers are on active duty. Over the last two decades, as the student debt crisis has emerged within the ranks of the military, Congress has targeted repayment benefits and protections to servicemembers with student debt. Congress took action to help servicemembers by establishing the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, which provides debt relief to borrowers working in public service, including members of the military, after ten years of payments. In practice, the PSLF program has proven to be an essential recruiting and retention tool across each of the military services that supports the financial readiness of our nation’s armed forces. Many servicemembers plan both their financial lives and military careers around the promise of loan forgiveness. But as discussed in an accompanying piece in this compendium, the promise of PSLF has been broken, including for individuals in uniform. While the broken promise of PSLF will undoubtedly harm millions of borrowers, this article focuses specifically on the acute harm military borrowers face in seeking to access vital student loan protections, largely due to needless administrative burdens that are exacerbated by poor servicing practices. Additionally, this article examines the legal authority under which the Secretary of Education can effectuate the intent of Congress to use the HEROES Act to remedy these harms by providing relief for hundreds of thousands of servicemembers and veterans with student debt.

The Negative Association between Alternative Financial Services Usage and Financial Well-Being: Variations by Income

Abstract As reliance on alternative financial services (AFS) usage continues its exponential expansion among American families, policy debates over banking regulation perdure with limited empirical understanding of how usage affects individuals’ financial lives. Using data from the 2014 Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking, this study explored the association between AFS use and financial well-being using a nationally representative sample (N = 5,896). It also examined the role of household income in AFS use and its relation to financial well-being. Results from regression analyses indicated that AFS use was negatively associated with present financial security measured by credit score, making ends meet, subjective financial well-being, and credit card payment, and that future financial security was measured by having an emergency fund and a rainy-day fund. Moreover, the interaction models showed that lower-income groups had the most negative associations between AFS and most financial well-being indicators, suggesting a substantive role of income in exacerbating the negative relationships. This was the first known study linking use of AFS and household financial well-being with a focus on the role of income. The article concludes with a discussion of implications for policy and social work practice.

Financial citizenship as a broader democratic context of financial literacy

Financial citizenship is crucial in our modern world. Financial citizenship is underpinned by the education of future generations so that they can understand both their local and global economies to make the best financial decisions concerning their lives. This paper discusses financial literacy, how it relates to individual citizens, and how it correlates with social, political and business spheres. According to current financial capability models, every individual’s financial well-being can be boosted by developing their financial knowledge and competency, which will improve their motivations and confidence. Societal constructs significantly create financial socialization, which increases our accessibility and engagements with institutions, businesses, political systems and society as a whole. Being educated about the details required for financial literacy is every human being’s right. Citizens have been characterized as being personally responsible, participatory or justice oriented; each person’s specific perspective can impact their financial lives, which supports the importance of the current concept of financial citizenship. Boosting global education about economic citizenship will help to reduce poverty, create more sustainable economic environments, and improve social outcomes and the life satisfaction of the world population. These concepts will be explored and discussed in this paper.

Abstract 822: OncoLoop: Closing the loop between patient-centered drug discovery and preclinical testing in precision-oncology

Abstract Millions of individuals in United States are affected by Prostate Cancer (PCa), with tens of thousands dying every year, as therapeutic options for more advanced stages are not yet curative. A lack of suitable models of human cancer and inter-patient tumor heterogeneity often hinder the drug discovery process. In fact, the lost-in-translation phenomenon is one of the major causes of failure for compounds in the transitioning process from the workbench to the clinic. These limitations implicate considerable costs for the society in terms of both financial assets and human lives. To accelerate the drug discovery process, we devised and experimentally validated OncoLoop, a data-driven framework for the identification of clinically-relevant compounds that can be validated in preclinical models that optimally match patient-specific tumor dependencies. Specifically, we generated a set of Genetically-Engineered Mouse Models (GEMMs) of prostate cancer that recapitulate a wide variety of established prostate-cancer driver mutations. Their RNA profiles were then used to reverse-engineer a murine prostate cancer regulatory network, which was used to assess the activity profile of thousands of GEMM-specific regulatory proteins using the VIPER algorithm. We then assessed the match between the GEMM repertoire and several human prostate cancer databases–including from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Stand-Up To Cancer (SU2C) consortia–based on GEMM vs. patient Master Regulator (MR) protein conservation. This allowed selecting an optimally matched GEMM model, for virtually every patient in these databases, to serve as an in vivo surrogate model for screening patient-relevant drugs (i.e., a patient avatar). We then leveraged large-scale perturbational databases, comprising RNASeq profiles of 2 prostate cancer cell lines treated with >400 drugs, to prioritize drugs presenting the greatest ability to reverse MR protein activity in both the patient and in its optimally-matched GEMM, using the OncoTreat algorithm (Alvarez, et al. Nat Genet 2018). This formed a closed loop between each patient, its optimally matched GEMM and the drug(s) inferred to invert the activity of MR proteins in both the patient and the GEMM. OncoLoop selection of candidate drugs was validated in vivo. Notably, four out of five drugs were validated in the GEMM, including two inducing complete abrogation of tumor growth and two inducing significant tumor size reduction. In summary, we propose that given a patient's tumor biopsy, OncoLoop can identify an optimal GEMM model for in vivo validation and dramatically reduce the combinatorial search space of candidate drugs to a handful that may be effectively tested in that model. OncoLoop can be applied to any other cancer for which clinically-relevant tumor models are available. Citation Format: Alessandro Vasciaveo, Min Zou, Juan Arriaga, Andrea Califano, Cory Abate-Shen. OncoLoop: Closing the loop between patient-centered drug discovery and preclinical testing in precision-oncology [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020; 2020 Apr 27-28 and Jun 22-24. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(16 Suppl):Abstract nr 822.

Mapping the intermediate: lived technologies of money and value

ABSTRACT As financial transactions are increasingly digitized, old and new kinds of intermediaries are only expanding in importance. Intermediaries, mediators and brokers sit at critical junctures and operate between diverse financial arenas and pathways. We argue that mapping the intermediate entails identifying how different kinds of actors—human and non-human, objects and interfaces, institutions and practices—delimit or reify but also stitch together and overcome spatial and temporal differences in people's financial lives, while taking on varying burdens of risk. Mapping the intermediate is both an empirical and methodological exercise. Empirically, it requires following the agents and traders, brokers and material objects that facilitate transactions and add, extract, or re-work different kinds of value. Methodologically, intermediaries and the intermediate are not only the objects of analysis but act as analytical tools in their own right, making the process and politics of transactions visible and tangible. Attending to the intermediate in our inquiries around money, currency and new digital financial technologies, thereby, offers new directions for grounding finance in politics and history and better connecting micro and macro and local and global economic processes.

Implementation of Islamic Values in Financial Management

This study aims to determine the nature of Islamic values, the nature of financial management and the implementation of Islamic values ​​in financial management, so that Muslims are not mistaken in calculating their financial lives which are detrimental and making a prosperous life. This research belongs to the type of literature study research by finding relevant theory references related to the implementation of Islamic values ​​in financial management. The results of the study indicate that a Muslim needs to understand and practice the values ​​of Islam which include creeds, sharia and morals in all aspects of life, including in regulating finances. Al-Qur'an has explained how to manage the economy with all its descriptions, which essentially includes two things, namely the ability to find material and the ability to spend it. A Muslim is required to obtain everything in a lawful way, including getting material. In order to create a good mentality related to lifestyle, Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala instructs people to fulfill their needs in a modest, middle-class, and not wasteful manner in spending. Talks about spending material can be divided into a number of materials, allocated for routine expenses, alms and investment hereafter.

Seeking stability: a preliminary exploration of Canadian young adults’ financial goals

ABSTRACT Young people’s financial lives have undergone change, with delays and struggles attaining stable employment, home ownership, and financial independence. Despite such change, research on the future thinking of young adults suggests the persistent significance of such financial milestones. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 36 young adults aged 18–32 in a mid-sized, prosperous Canadian city, inquiring into their goals and perceptions of their future financial lives in light of their current situations. Findings revealed young adults’ overarching desire for financial security, notably through goals of a steady job, debt reduction, and home ownership. These findings affirm that during this transitional time of life, many young adults are involved in a search for security, hoping to attain financial independence and stability in a conventionally linear and upward fashion. This search for security and stability manifests differently across sociodemographic positions (namely age, gender, birthplace, and socioeconomic status), reflecting differing experiences of precarity, cultural representations of the life course, and positions along financial trajectories. Participants’ visions of their financial futures also appear to connect to factors in the local context, including its relative prosperity, persistence of traditional gender roles, and a relatively modest cost of living compared to other urban centres in Canada.

How Do Economically Active People with Disabilities Access Microfinance?

Abstract:Many economically activepeople with disabilities do not haveaccess to affordable financialproducts and services. The consequence is that not only do people with disabilities experience social exclusion, but they also struggle to secure their financial lives. Althoughmicrofinance has been widely used in Bangladesh formore than three decades as a tool for reducing poverty and empowering poor people, few Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) recently started providing microfinance to some selected economically active people with disabilities. However, very little evidence exists to show how people with disabilitiesaccess microfinance. Therefore, the aim of this research is to identify the barriers or challenges that people with disabilities face to access microfinance. This study uses a qualitative case study approachbased on interviews with thirty-five economically active people with disabilities and ten stakeholdersalong with document analysis and observation as a tool for research data collection. Data analysis was conducted usingthematic analysis, with findings showingthat people with disabilities face substantial barriers to access microfinance. These barriers includeharder credit conditions, lack of social capital, negative staff attitudes,no or insufficient training,andabsence of an integrated approach. Theresearch suggests that the government should formulate an integrated policy framework aiming to help people with disabilities for financial inclusion. Moreover, Non-GovernmentalOrganizations (NGOs), Disabled People Organizations (DPOs), MFIsandpeople with disabilities couldcome together todevelop an effective partnership for designing social and economic development programs that canempower people with disabilities. Finally, this research suggestssome of the key strategies such as to develop MFI’s anti-discrimination policiesand theirimplementation, convenient credit designfor people with disabilities, improve skills, enhance capacitiesand, build self-confidence of people with disabilities. Furthermore, this research recommendsthat MFIs couldprovide financial literacy to people with disabilities, trainingto MFIs staffon disability issues, raise awareness among credit group membersabout disability, and more importantly identify people with disabilitiesespecially in the rural areas to enhance financial inclusionof people with disabilities.

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Financial Health and Food Security: a Survey-Based Analysis

This study investigated the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the health, food security and financial lives of Nigerian households. The data for the study were collected using a questionnaire for 813 households from the six geo-political zones in Nigeria and the results were analysed using descriptive statistics and ordinal logistic regression model. The findings showed that the COVID-19 pandemic has affected households’ personal savings significantly. Majority of the households’ healthcare financing is borne out of their personal income and savings in the absence of a health insurance scheme. Households experiencing worse financial status largely do not have food during the pandemic. Many households have a positive expectation that they will recover from the unfavourable financial condition they are currently experiencing and there is a strong traditional support system existing in the localities during the study period. Food insecurity during the pandemic was significantly occasioned by increases in prices, fall in income and adverse financial well-being. The study thus suggested, among others, the need to urgently enhance the economic and financial well-being of the Nigerian populace to guide against the worsening and devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on food security in Nigerian households.

Women, Literature, and Finance in Victorian Britain: Cultures of Investment

Women, Literature, and Finance in Victorian Britain: Cultures of Investment