An Evidence Gap Map (EGM) is an intuitive, visual, and interactive tool designed to provide an overview of the existing evidence on a topic, theme, or domain. EGMs highlight gaps in the evidence base and show where evidence is more abundant.

This interactive EGM matrix of 14 digital finance product categories, 32 design and delivery categories, and 10 outcome categories contains 75 impact studies.

Digital Finance EGM

There are two views of the Digital Finance EGM. The first view, Digital Finance Studies, shows the total number of studies that were conducted on a particular product, plotted against the client outcomes which were tested. This view aims to give the user an overview of the impact literature on digital finance and highlight which digital finance products were examined, against what outcomes, and how frequently.

The second view, Digital Finance Results, presents the results of each test that was conducted on a particular client outcome. The color codes circle show the level of impact (blue is positive, black is negative, and gray is no impact) and the number within the circle shows the number of tests on the client outcomes. Most studies tested more than one outcome, and many studies tested more than one variation on that outcome. For example, a study that tested the outcome clients improve savings behavior, may have provided results on 1) the change in frequency of saving and 2) the total value of savings. Thus, the number of tests in the results view, may not equal the number of studies.

In both views, you can filter by different variables to gain a more precise picture of the impact of digital finance on various client outcomes—you can click on any circle to access further information on the studies.

The Digital Finance EGM was developed by Caribou Digital with support from Mastercard Foundation. It was last updated in October 2019.