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The financial sector in rural areas, where most of the poor people in sub-Saharan Africa are found, has transformed massively in recent times, notably through the increased penetration of several types of rural financial intermediaries in addition to rural and community banks and microfinance institutions. Using recent household survey data, we ascertain the access of rural populations to various types of financial services, and the influence of rural financial intermediation on poverty reduction, in Ghana. By accounting for the potential endogeneity of access to financial services, we show that rural households with access to basic financial services are significantly more likely to be non-poor than those without such access. In order to more sustainably tackle the goal, highlighted in the Sustainable Development Goals, of eliminating global hunger or extreme poverty, the poor must be allowed to obtain meaningful access to financial services through the design of efficient pro-poor financial products.

Sub-Saharan Africa continues to post one of the highest gender gaps in educational outcomes in the world. Gender gaps in educational outcomes might be attributed to an uneven allocation of household resources towards the schooling of boys and girls. In this paper, we interrogate this issue using individual-level data from Ghana. Methodologically, the paper explores two potential sources of gender bias: bias in the decision to enrol/keep boys and girls in school; and bias in the educational expenditure on boys and girls enrolled in school. Our findings are illuminating: gender bias in households' educational expenditure allocations arises mainly from the decision to enrol or not boys and girls in school, where an important pro-male bias exists. That is, households favour boys in their decision whether or not to enrol a child in school in Ghana. However, after enrolment, households tend to spend an equal amount on the schooling of both boys and girls. These findings have important implications for educational policy design, especially in the context of developing countries.