This week we took another look at the statistics provided by the Global Financial Inclusion Index created by the World Bank. This is a comparison of the level of financial inclusion for those in the population with an elementary school education or less, and those with a secondary education or above.
Predictably, the rates of financial inclusion are significantly higher across the region for those with a secondary education. But there is one country that counters that trend: Argentina.
Why? One possibility—though it’s a depressing one—is that those with more education are scared of the government freezing bank accounts, as it did with the corralito in 2001. Another possibility—though no more charitable—is that the database doesn’t track accounts kept outside the country.
The report also reveals another curiosity. There are no data available for Chile and Uruguay, two middle income countries for which there is typically ample amounts of socioeconomic data.
