Does access to financial services improve nutritional intake among rural residents? Assessing potential action mechanism pathways

Abstract

AbstractScholars' attention to the association between access to financial services (FS) and nutritional intake has been profound, looking at the worsening levels of malnutrition worldwide. This research adds to literature by assessing the association between access to FS and nutritional intake among rural dwellers in a developing nation, Ghana. We used the endogenous treatment Poisson regression model to address the problem regarding potential selection bias. The findings emanating from our analysis depict that the linkage between access to FS and nutritional intake is positive. After analyzing potential pathways in the linkage between access to FS and nutritional intake, our findings showed that the adoption of farm technologies and entrepreneurship could serve as essential pathways. Our findings indicate that providing incentives or policies to encourage the establishment of branches of financial institutions in rural areas should be prioritized by policymakers. Also, policies aimed at enhancing entrepreneurship and farm technology adoption should be prioritized. For instance, training programs to empower farmers to adopt new farm technologies and avenues to enrich farmers' entrepreneurship ideas should be considered by policymakers.