Financial Literacy Research Roundup: September 14, 2026

This study investigates the influence of BSI Mitraguna financing on the development of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Aceh, with particular attention to the role of financial literacy. Using a quantitative explanatory research design, the study focuses on active BSI Mitraguna financing recipients in Aceh. Respondents were selected based on specific criteria, including a minimum duration of financing engagement and ongoing MSME operations. Data were gathered through a structured questionnaire using a Likert scale and analyzed using the Structural Equation Modeling--Partial Least Squares (SEM-PLS) method with SmartPLS software. The results reveal that BSI Mitraguna plays a significant role in fostering MSME growth. It not only provides financial capital but also contributes to improving the financial literacy of MSME actors. Furthermore, financial literacy serves as a crucial intermediary, enhancing the effectiveness of financing in driving business development. These findings suggest that microfinance programs are more impactful when integrated with financial education tailored to the specific needs of local entrepreneurs. Ultimately, this study contributes to the growing body of knowledge on Islamic microfinance by demonstrating that the synergy between financing and financial literacy is essential for sustainable MSME development. It also provides practical implications for policymakers and financial institutions to design integrated financing models that not only support capital access but also strengthen entrepreneurial capacity, thereby enhancing long-term economic resilience and inclusive growth

The transition from a financial (proficiency) hereafter literacy to Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the centre of debate in know a day among financial institutions, practitioners and scholar. The literature suggests that individual freedom emphasize financial literacy is crucial for decision-making in monetary strategies, investments, and planning. Rural communities face financial illiteracy challenges, but AI integration offers a breakthrough. Few studies investigate the relationship between financial literacy and artificial intelligence performance in emerging economies, focusing on stable, uncertain environments. This study examines trends in Financial Literacy in the era of artificial intelligence in Saharsa district, in Bihar. Financial literacy aims to improve capital formation, save and invest among rural households, and improve financial management and policymaking. This descriptive-correlational study, with the help of ANOVA to analyze AI's impact on financial literacy, focusing on demographic groups and banking channels, to compare the effectiveness of AI-driven initiatives, aimed to examine the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on financial literacy improvement in the banking sector and to compare the significance of each variable in relation to financial literacy outcomes. The research sample consisted of 384 rural households. Findings revealed that AI interventions significantly enhanced financial literacy, particularly among younger users, and that AI-driven tools embedded in mobile applications were more effective compared to those implemented in physical banking branches.

A persistent gender gap in inflation expectations, i.e., women systematically reporting higher expected inflation than men on average, has been documented across countries and over time, yet its underlying causes remain under debate. Using more than half a million responses from the ECB Consumer Expectations Survey and a double machine learning framework that provides valid inference on many dimensions of heterogeneity at once, I show that there is no single gender gap: individualized gaps range from roughly -1 to +5 percentage points. This heterogeneity is shaped primarily by subjective belief-formation variables, such as forecast uncertainty and the rounding of inflation beliefs, and only to a much lesser extent by objective ones, such as financial literacy. When inflation is high enough to attract consumers' attention, the average gap narrows, but the distribution of individual gaps fans out, widening precisely for economically vulnerable women. Since the women who diverge most from men hold the most imprecise beliefs, communication that reduces ambiguity, rather than solely providing information, is a promising policy lever.

Inflation misperceptions of consumers complicate the conduct and communication of monetary policy and can undermine the credibility of the central bank's inflation target. This paper empirically investigates the determinants of inflation misperceptions by extending a rational inattention model to incorporate distorted signals from salient prices. We estimate the model using rich micro-level panel data for the euro area drawn from the ECB Consumer Expectations Survey. We find that consumers misperceive inflation both because they are inattentive to inflation and because they overweight food price inflation relative to headline inflation. In contrast, distortions stemming from energy prices are not significant. Financially literate consumers exhibit lower inflation misperceptions and greater attention to inflation, while women have more pronounced inflation misperceptions and place larger weights on salient prices. Finally, we show that attention to inflation is higher and misperceptions are lower in response to inflationary than to disinflationary news.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a central role in Mali's economic fabric by contributing significantly to wealth and job creation. According to the African Development Bank (AfDB), Malian SMEs account for 55% of the country's gross domestic product (AfDB, 2021). However, despite this strategic role, their access to bank financing remains limited. Various studies have highlighted several factors in the literature; however, certain aspects related to country specific characteristics appear to have been overlooked. The objective of this article is to identify the main factors related to SME financing and Mali's specific context. Methodologically, this research adopts an exploratory approach based primarily on the use of secondary data, supplemented by an analysis of the Malian financial system and its financing mechanisms. The results show that the main factors relate to the Malian financial system and aspects specific to SMEs. The study highlights that, generally speaking, microenterprises have greater access to bank financing than SMEs in the WAEMU region and in Mali in particular. The study could serve as a basis for examining the factors underlying this paradox. Finally, it suggests alternative approaches notably those based on the quality of the financial system, financial literacy, and managerial competence to examine the specific challenges SMEs face in accessing financing in Mali.