Notes on technology, markets, and inclusion.

Edoardo Totolo

I work on how technology is reshaping financial systems and economic opportunity. My work spans research, strategy and practice, with a particular interest in AI, digital finance, consumer protection and resilience in emerging markets, and the role philanthropy can play in shaping markets and catalyzing change.

This is where I collect my research, writing and occasional notes on things I’m trying to understand.

Edoardo Totolo

Areas of Work

AI & technology · Financial Inclusion· Consumer protection · Resilience and Adaptation

Selected Work

Agentic Commerce and Remaking of Inclusive Finance
How agentic commerce could shift financial inclusion from access to safe delegation, and what that means for consumers, small businesses and the infrastructure of digital markets.
Center for Financial Inclusion · Forthcoming 2026

Early Warnings, Faster Recovery
How climate information and access to finance can help women entrepreneurs prepare for shocks and recover faster.
Center for Financial Inclusion · 2026

The Resilience Stack
What small businesses need to prepare for and recover from shocks.
Center for Financial Inclusion · 2026

The Unspoken Tradeoffs of Digital Public Infrastructure
On the choices hidden beneath the promise of DPI.
Center for Financial Inclusion – 2025

The Moment for Inclusive Insurance
Why the next frontier of financial inclusion should be protecting what people build, not only expanding access to finance.
Center for Financial Inclusion · 2025

Too Small to Cover?
What research with 1,600 entrepreneurs in Brazil and Indonesia tells us about the protection gap in life and health insurance.
Center for Financial Inclusion · 2025

Financial Inclusion in the Blue Economy
Making the case for a new global financial inclusion agenda for coastal communities and small-scale fishers.
Center for Financial Inclusion · 2025

Embedded Finance in E-Commerce
An early look at how digital platforms were beginning to integrate payments, credit and other financial services into commerce.
World Bank · 2020 – Link

The Next Wave of SupTech Innovation in Market Conduct Supervision
How data and technology can give financial supervisors new tools to identify market-conduct risks and strengthen consumer protection.
World Bank · 2021

A Digital Credit Revolution: Insights from Kenya and Tanzania
What borrower-level evidence from Kenya and Tanzania revealed about the rapid rise, opportunities and risks of digital lending.
CGAP · 2018