Reversing the Digital Divide
A Collaborative Assessment of Digitized Banking in Rural India
Our Partnership
Digital banking provides people with opportunities to manage their own money without having the cash within their possession. Bonded by their common interest in the use of digitized banking in rural India, professors from the University of Denver, University of Pennsylvania and University of North Carolina are conducting a 202-question survey. Across six states, they are assessing how households have utilized the digitized banking opportunities provided by the government and local organizations.
About Our Research
We leverage cross-institutional collaboration to address some of today’s most pressing challenges, producing interdisciplinary solutions that influence policymakers to effectively serve the public good. From Stanford to UChicago to NYU, we’ve refined our collaborative process through years of mutually beneficial relationships with institutions nationwide to understand and address challenges like climate change, HIV and youth homelessness.
DU’s current research efforts have been featured in news outlets like The New York Times. They include…
- exploring the effects of felony disenfranchisement.
- employing lasers as the medium for quantum science.
- using theatre to heal and rehabilitate inmates.
About the Project
We are interviewing approximately 200 households across 12 villages (six control, six experimental). The control villages (six) are similar in population, state and socioeconomic status, but have not received any organized access to digital banking training. The experimental villages (six) received digital banking training.
After assessing the data, the reports will show:
- if an effort to introduce digital banking in rural villages increases residents’ use of digitized banking
- the characteristics of the places and people who utilize the digital banking options
- an assessment of who remains unbanked in the digitized format
Funded by the Penn India Research and Engagement Fund (IREF), the collaborative study between DU, the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and the University of Pennsylvania drives interest in economic justice for underrepresented international populations.