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Topic · Economics and Econometrics

Microfinance and Financial Inclusion

Microfinance and Financial Inclusion is a research topic within Economics and Econometrics. Science Explorer counts 31k research works in it since 1952. 10.1% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the intersection of microfinance, gender empowerment, and economic development. It explores the impact of microfinance on poverty reduction, financial inclusion, and women's empowerment, with a particular emphasis on access to finance, social capital, and the role of mobile money in promoting economic opportunities for the poor.

  • Microfinance
  • Empowerment
  • Gender Equality
  • Financial Inclusion
  • Poverty Reduction
  • Economic Development
  • Women's Empowerment
  • Access to Finance
  • Social Capital
  • Mobile Money
Research works
31k
fractional, since 1952
In the world top 10%
3.2k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.1%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+46%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
India
28% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Microfinance and Financial Inclusion

Which countries lead Microfinance and Financial Inclusion research?

By volume, India and Indonesia publish the most (2.1k and 1.3k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 India 2.1k works
  2. 2 Indonesia 1.3k works
  3. 3 China 1k works
  4. 4 United States 939 works
  5. 5 Malaysia 548 works
  6. 6 Nigeria 475 works
  7. 7 Kenya 365 works
  8. 8 Pakistan 364 works
  9. 9 United Kingdom 348 works
  10. 10 South Africa 292 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

India: 27.6%Indonesia: 16.3%China: 13.0%United States: 12.2%6 others listed: 31.0%28%largest
India2,131 · 27.6%Indonesia1,258 · 16.3%China1,006 · 13.0%United States939 · 12.2%6 others listed2,392 · 31.0%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Microfinance and Financial Inclusion research?

By volume in 2022-now, Government of Western Australia publishes the most Microfinance and Financial Inclusion research, followed by Kenyatta University and G.S. Science, Arts And Commerce College.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Government of Western AustraliaAustralia 119 works
  2. 2 Kenyatta UniversityKenya 77 works
  3. 3 G.S. Science, Arts And Commerce CollegeIndia 75 works
  4. 4 Universiti Teknologi MARAMalaysia 72 works
  5. 5 Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and TechnologyKenya 59 works
  6. 6 Tribhuvan UniversityNepal 58 works
  7. 7 International Islamic University MalaysiaMalaysia 55 works
  8. 8 University of JohannesburgSouth Africa 51 works
  9. 9 University of ZambiaZambia 48 works
  10. 10 Institute for Peace Research and Security PolicyGermany 48 works

Who are the leading researchers in Microfinance and Financial Inclusion?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Microfinance and Financial Inclusion include Andrei Shleifer, Till Bärnighausen and André M. N. Renzaho.

  1. 1 Andrei Shleifer United States 234k citations
  2. 2 Till Bärnighausen Germany 189k citations
  3. 3 André M. N. Renzaho Australia 168k citations
  4. 4 Joseph E. Stiglitz United States 167k citations
  5. 5 Daron Acemoğlu United States 164k citations
  6. 6 Anil Kumar Jain United States 160k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Microfinance and Financial Inclusion?

The most cited paper in Microfinance and Financial Inclusion is "The dynamics of crowdfunding: An exploratory study" (Ethan Mollick, 2013), with 4,175 citations. Next come "Network Structure and Knowledge Transfer: The Effects of Cohesion and Range" (3,624) and "Women Empowerment and Economic Development" (2,932).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 The dynamics of crowdfunding: An exploratory study Ethan Mollick · Journal of Business Venturing Open access 13 Aug 2013 4,175
2 Network Structure and Knowledge Transfer: The Effects of Cohesion and Range Ray E. Reagans, Bill McEvily · Administrative Science Quarterly Jun 2003 3,624
3 Women Empowerment and Economic Development Esther Duflo · Journal of Economic Literature Open access Dec 2012 2,932
4 Building Sustainable Hybrid Organizations: The Case of Commercial Microfinance Organizations Julie Battilana, Silvia Dorado · Academy of Management Journal Dec 2010 2,912
5 Crowdfunding: Tapping the right crowd Paul Belleflamme, Thomas Andrew Lambert, Armin Schwienbacher · Journal of Business Venturing Open access 29 Sep 2013 2,721
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Microfinance and Financial Inclusion research done?

The largest centres of Microfinance and Financial Inclusion research in 2022-now are Nairobi (Kenya), Beijing (China), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) and Dhaka (Bangladesh). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Morogoro and Bamenda.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 NairobiKenya 233 works
  2. 2 BeijingChina 210 works
  3. 3 Kuala LumpurMalaysia 169 works
  4. 4 DhakaBangladesh 153 works
  5. 5 JakartaIndonesia 150 works
  6. 6 CanberraAustralia 132 works
  7. 7 New DelhiIndia 123 works
  8. 8 BengaluruIndia 120 works
  9. 9 BandungIndonesia 94 works
  10. 10 YogyakartaIndonesia 93 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. MorogoroTZ · 37.1 works28×
  2. BamendaCM · 23.8 works28×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Microfinance and Financial Inclusion than the world average.

See Microfinance and Financial Inclusion on the map

Where is the best place to study Microfinance and Financial Inclusion?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Business and Technology, Sichuan Agricultural University and University of International Business and Economics score highest, combining citation excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 24.33%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of Busine…University of Intern…Sichuan Agricultural…University of Johann…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Citation excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1University of Business and TechnologySaudi Arabia 70.534.3%10.8×11 +113.7%
2Sichuan Agricultural UniversityChina 68.030.4%6.0×18 +113.8%
3University of International Business and EconomicsChina 67.033.8%14.0×14 +68.5%
4University of JohannesburgSouth Africa 65.313.9%7.7×51 +137.3%
5Southwestern University of Finance and EconomicsChina 63.123.5%13.1×20 +103.6%
6Northern University of MalaysiaMalaysia 63.014.6%24.5×46 +35.4%
7University of South AfricaSouth Africa 62.013.4%10.3×47 +75.1%
8Nanjing University of Finance and EconomicsChina 61.237.7%6.3×9 +333.0%
9Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and TechnologyGhana 60.715.0%13.7×31 +39.8%
10Renmin University of ChinaChina 60.526.7%5.0×17 +33.2%

Universities only. The score blends citation excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Microfinance and Financial Inclusion, country by country

Is Microfinance and Financial Inclusion research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 46% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Microfinance and Financial Inclusion.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Microfinance and Financial Inclusion as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.052% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%0.060%Microfinance and Financial Inclusion0.055% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Microfinance and Financial Inclusion over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Microfinance and Financial Inclusion10.6% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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