Financial inclusion in Sincelejo (Colombia). A Probit econometric model

This paper examines the relationship between financial inclusion and income poverty of households in the city of Sincelejo, in the Colombian department of Sucre. The correlation between these two variables is confirmed through a probabilistic or qualitative response econometric model called Probit. Additional socioeconomic variables were used which help account for the phenomenon of financial inclusion. In order to achieve this purpose, primary information was collected through surveys conducted in 541 sincelejanos households on the variables involved in the analysis and the information gathered was processed through Eviews 7.1 in order to obtain the estimates of the econometric model. The results confirm that this phenomenon can be adequately studied through a binomial regression analysis and that there is an inverse relationship between income poverty and financial inclusion (measured as the access by households to any kind of service or product from formal financial institutions). The results also confirm that higher schooling of the household head is the major factor in increasing the likelihood of household financial inclusion