The Role of Fintech in Regional Economic Development: A Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract

In this article we provide a bibliometric analysis that studies the relationship between
f
inancial technology (fintech) and regional economic development (RED) research from
2000 to 2025. Building upon the database of Bibliometrix literature (Biblioshiny), we
present a map of how the intellectual architecture, themes, and collaboration patterns
among researchers in this interdisciplinary field are developed at various levels and are
using data of 474 peer-reviewed papers. We assume that analysis suggests a fast growing
research space with an annual growth rate of 46.95%, in part, due to increased scholarly
inquiry especially following 2019. We have 1,318 authors contribution with 102 sources and
a significant international collaboration (23.42%), with the average of 3 co-authors per
document. Our results suggest that what is unique is that fintech goes in both directions,
both in terms of an equalizing edge of well developed and underserved areas, and in terms
of a catalyst for the emergence of new kinds of spatial inequalities. We also draw the
conclusion that there are also some research gaps in understanding long-term regional
implications and regulation mechanisms for subnational fintech adoption, and the role of
digital financial services in post-pandemic regional recovery. Our bibliometric mapping is
thus a systematic approach to ensure, both for researchers and policymakers, the relevance
of fintech research in regional development studies and provides critical informations to
inform the development of new place-based digital financial strategies and novel lines of
future work in the emergent fields.
Keywords: fintech, regional economic development, bibliometric analysis, digital finance,
spatial inequality, financial inclusion, blockchain, mobile payments
JEL Codes: G21, G23, O16, O30, R11, R58