As of 2021, 1.4 billion persons remain financially excluded. Paradoxically, in recent years, the financial industry has experienced deep digitization, allowing for faster, more secure, and cheaper financial products as well as new organizations, such as fintech and digital banks capable of...

We develop a framework that examines the organizational challenges faced by central rulers governing large territories, where administrative power needs to be delegated to local elites. We describe how economic change can motivate rulers to empower different elites and emphasize the interaction...