The impact of B2P electronic payroll and G2P digital welfare on formal financial inclusion in the global open economy

The objective of the present research is to assess how and to what extent government-to-person (G2P) digital welfare, and business-to-person (B2P) electronic payroll practices, affect formal financial inclusion outcomes in the global open economy. To this end, the paper relies on the inter-temporal economic theory of consumption, together with a random utility theoretic framework to characterize the behavioral manifestations of formal account ownership (FA), formal saving (FS) and borrowing (FB), attributable to G2P and B2P electronic transfer practices, across 155 economies between 2014, 2017 and 2021. Following sensitivity and robustness testing, the results highlight that ceteris-paribus, controlling for social, economic, financial, demographic, spatial as well as temporal influences, G2P digital welfare, and B2P electronic payroll practices significantly improve individuals’ likelihoods of formal financial inclusion in the global open economy. Indeed, while G2P digital welfare increases individuals’ marginal utilities (MUs) from FA, FS, and FB by 65.9%, 9.4% and 16.3% respectively; B2P electronic payroll practices increases individuals’ MUs from FA, FS, and FB by 41.2%, 22.3% and 18.1% respectively. Therefore, implications for real-time payment systems’ open innovation, as well as inclusive and sustainable growth are discussed.