Capital Markets, Technology, Financial Inclusion, and Economic Growth

The second annual ISB-NBER conference on Economic Policy and the Indian Economy will be held at the Indian School of Business (ISB) in Hyderabad on December 16-17, 2023.  The meeting will emphasize the relationships between capital markets and technology, and particularly the intersection of the two, and financial inclusion and economic growth. The meeting will be co-organized by Shilpa Aggarwal (ISB) and Amit Seru (Stanford University and NBER).

Priority topics for discussion at the conference include, but are not limited to:

• Factors that contribute to financial exclusion, including caste, gender and race
• Effects of financial exclusion on economic performance and household well-being
• Consequences of government policies and private sector initiatives that seek to reduce financial market frictions and promote access to financial markets
• Impact of digital transformation, mobile money and AI/ML in expanding access and reducing frictions
• Implications of capital market regulations, including those affecting banks and securities markets, for financial market access by small businesses and low-income households

The conference will spotlight research on the Indian economy and the South Asian region, but studies of other regions that have broad implications are also welcome.