Effects of Financial Inclusion on Household Expenditures: Evidence from Rural Vietnam

Abstract

Research on financial inclusion (FI) in Vietnam’s rural context is quite scarce, and some questions are still unanswered. In this study, we tried to look at how FI increased welfare, with particular attention to household expenditures. We used a sample of 1,180 Vietnamese rural households and applied propensity score matching and weighted-least-squares regression to test the FI–expenditure relationship. We noticed that FI seemed to positively affect total expenditures. FI also determined types of expenditures, like transport and communication, social events, food and non-food products. However, we did not find any clear link between FI and spending on healthcare, education or items such as alcohol and tobacco. The positive relationship between FI and expenditures suggests that authorities may view promoting families’ access to financial tools as a potentially effective way to improve household welfare. The fact that FI raised food spending but did not impact spending on harmful goods like alcohol and tobacco may suggest a positive long-term impact on people’s health.