Theoretical and conceptual framework of access to financial services by farmers in emerging economies: implication for empirical analysis

Abstract

This paper presents a discussion on the theoretical and conceptualframework on issues relating to access to financial services. The discussionbegins by providing details of various theories that underpin the demand andsupply side of access to financial services. The supply dimension of accessto financial services is guided by the information asymmetry theory and thetransactioncosttheory,whilethekeydemanddimensiontheoriesarethedelegated monitoring theory and the rational choice theory. In the later sections,a conceptual framework was developed for the empirical evaluation of accessto financial services and its impact on productivity with particular referenceto farmers in emerging economies. The last section provides the concludingremarks, which recommends the use of empirical analyses to assess factorsinfluencing access and the impact of the access on farmers’ productivity.