Is Mobile Money Changing Rural Africa? Evidence from a Field Experiment

This study follows the introduction of mobile money for the first time in rural villages using a randomized field experiment

Abstract

Rural areas in Sub-Saharan Africa are typically underserved by financial services. Mobile money brings a substantial reduction in the transaction costs of remittances. We follow the introduction of mobile money for the first time in rural villages of Mozambique using a randomized field experiment. We find that mobile money increased migration out of these villages, where we observe lower agricultural activity and investment. At the same time, remittances received and welfare of rural households increased, particularly when facing geo-referenced village-level floods and household-level idiosyncratic shocks. Our work suggests that mobile money can accelerate urbanization and structural change in Sub-Saharan Africa.

This research is part of the G2LM Gender, Growth and Labour Markets in Low-Income Countries programme

Citation

Cátia Batista, Pedro C. Vicente; Is Mobile Money Changing Rural Africa? Evidence from a Field Experiment. The Review of Economics and Statistics 2023; doi: https://doi.org/10.1162/rest_a_01333

Is Mobile Money Changing Rural Africa? Evidence from a Field Experiment

Updates to this page

Published 29 May 2023