Beyond the Classroom: Learning from faculty-driven research on Digital Collateral
In some of the world’s fastest-growing economies, hard-working individuals and families remain shut out of traditional banking and loan systems. Historically, lending in high and medium-income countries is secured by assets, while lower-income markets often feel structurally unfair, excluding people who need credit the most. For rural households and those without formal land titles to secure loans, borrowing money for essentials such as education or starting a business is a challenge, contributing to cycles of generational poverty.
I joined Haas’s Institute for Business & Social Impact (IBSI) in January 2025 because I am interested in problems like the ones described above. I wanted to explore the applied research led by Haas faculty under IBSI’s Lab for Inclusive FinTech (LIFT) to learn more about the innovations designed to tackle these problems, as well as the efforts to study whether or not these innovations have the expected social impacts. Afterall, it’s one thing to say your fintech is inclusive – it’s another to show it.
Financial inclusion isn’t achieved by moving fast and “disrupting.” It’s achieved by listening to households, designing with dignity in mind, and constantly testing whether the incentives we build are supporting the communities they’re meant to serve.
I focused my first project on a study led by Haas faculty and IBSI Faculty Director, Paul Gertler. The Digital Collateral study was designed and implemented with a diverse team of collaborators, including co-authors Brett Green and Catherine Wolfram.
Interview with Dr. Green
After working with the IBSI team to develop our first IBSI Research Brief for this study (see here!) I led a deep dive interview with Dr. Green to dig into some of the research details. Here’s what I found out:
What does it take to start a research project?
The short answer: good industry collaborators willing to ask tough questions and test an innovation with unknown impacts and the ability to scale. Dr. Green explained the collaboration with Fenix International (which was acquired by ENGIE after this study). The project introduced the use of digital collateral using remotely installed and controlled solar home systems to secure loans for school fees in rural Uganda. The guiding idea was simple but powerful: if a family fell behind on a loan, the solar panel’s energy flow could be temporarily disabled until payments resumed.
Why were the researchers interested in this project?
Inspired by the data revolution that drives digital banking, in conjunction with behavioral economics, Dr. Green discussed their interest in exploring the use of technology not solely as a means of enforcement but also as a behavioral incentive. Instead of asking, “How can we punish nonrepayment?” the research collaboration asked, “How can we design contracts that gently nudge people to repay while still supporting their long‑term welfare?” That shift in perspective sits at the heart of their work on digital collateral and lockout technology.
How does research help us measure social impacts?
Their randomized controlled trial compared traditional unsecured loans to those secured by digital collateral. By holding loan size and purpose constant and only varying the presence of digital collateral, the researchers were able to isolate how much repayment behavior changed when households knew their energy access was tied to loan repayment. As a result, the study showed digital collateral improved loan repayment rates, suggesting that the lockout feature successfully motivated timely payments. Despite these gains, lender profitability remained a notable challenge, proving that even promising financial innovations need the right business model and careful cost control to scale sustainably. This was an important finding of the research.
My takeaways as a Haas student
These lessons are personal for me. I chose this project because I plan to pursue a career in credit underwriting, and because I believe the future of lending requires creativity, responsibility, and community-oriented thinking. Innovative tools like digital collateral are reshaping how banks evaluate risk, but more importantly, how they extend trust especially to people who have historically been shut out of the system.
After wrapping up the Research Brief and interviewing Dr. Green, I’ve been thinking a lot about what this project truly represents. Yes, it’s a study about repayment rates, business models, and product design but it’s also a window into the kind of future I want to help build in finance.
What stayed with me most is how simple tech, paired with thoughtful behavioral design can expand access to credit without exploiting people. Digital collateral didn’t just increase repayment, it helped families achieve the goal the loan was meant for in the first place: keeping their children in school. This study reminded me that finance is at its best when it’s designing systems around real lives, not just risk spreadsheets.
The research also challenged the idea that innovation alone is enough. The results made it clear that even high-impact fintech tools need sustainable underwriting models and the right operational guardrails to scale ethically. Financial inclusion isn’t achieved by moving fast and “disrupting.” It’s achieved by listening to households, designing with dignity in mind, and constantly testing whether the incentives we build are supporting the communities they’re meant to serve.
This research has already shaped how I want to show up in my career. It pushed me to think beyond default and repayment metrics and toward more human questions. As I continue in this space, I want to push for practices that balance rigor and inclusion, where risk management and community empowerment aren’t competing goals but mutually reinforcing ones.
These lessons are personal for me. I chose this project because I plan to pursue a career in credit underwriting, and because I believe the future of lending requires creativity, responsibility, and community-oriented thinking. Innovative tools like digital collateral are reshaping how banks evaluate risk, but more importantly, how they extend trust especially to people who have historically been shut out of the system.
Next summer, I’ll intern at U.S. Bank, a firm that has been recognized as one of the world’s most “ethical banks”. This research has already shaped how I want to show up in my career. It pushed me to think beyond default and repayment metrics and toward more human questions. As I continue in this space, I want to push for practices that balance rigor and inclusion, where risk management and community empowerment aren’t competing goals but mutually reinforcing ones. If the future of banking is ethical, data-driving and deeply attuned to human needs, then innovation changes generational trajectories.
