Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 11, 2025

A Novel Method for Involving Women of Color at High Risk for Preterm Birth in Research Priority Setting
Published on: January 12, 2018
Unbanked status and use of alternative financial services among minority populations
Silvia Helena Barcellos1, Gema Zamarro1,2
1University of Southern California, Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters Arts and Sciences, CESR, 635 Downey Way, Los Angeles, California 90089-4012, USA.
Abstract:
A large number of Americans do not have bank accounts (the 'unbanked') or rely on costly alternative financial services (AFS) such as payday loans (the 'underbanked'), with implications for wealth accumulation and retirement preparedness. Using primary data, we document large racial/ethnic differences in unbanked and in frequent AFS usage rates. We study the role of socio-economic status (SES), financial literacy, trust in financial institutions, networks, and time preferences in explaining these gaps. While these variables explain a large fraction of the white-minority gaps in unbanked status the same is not true for gaps in AFS use. A Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition confirms these patterns: gaps in unbanked status are mostly explained by differences in endowments across groups, for AFS gaps differences in returns to endowments have the largest explanatory power. Our findings suggest that, while related, unbanked and underbanked are distinct concepts with different underlying causes that may require different policy responses.
Related Concept Videos
Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination
Ethnic Identity within a Larger Culture
Surveys
Deindividuation
Relationship Formation
Bias
In statistics, a sampling bias is created when a sample is collected from a population, and some members of the population are not as likely to be chosen as others (remember, each member...

