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Introducing Mobile Money in Rural Mozambique: Evidence from a Field Experiment*
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| 3.6 MB | Adobe PDF |
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Resumo(s)
The limitations of access to finance in Africa, together with the recent boom in
cell phone use in that continent, created high expectations regarding the
introduction of mobile money in many African countries. The success story of
M-PESA in Kenya raised the bar further. We designed and conducted a field
experiment to assess the impact of randomized mobile money dissemination in
rural Mozambique. For this purpose we benefit from the fact that mobile money
was only recently launched in the country, allowing for the identification of a
pure control group. This paper reports on the first results of this ongoing project
after the first wave of dissemination efforts in rural locations, which included
the recruitment and training of mobile money agents, community meetings and
theaters, as well as individual rural campaigning. Administrative and behavioral
data both show clear adherence to the services in the treatment group. Financial
literacy and trust outcomes are also positively affected by the treatment. We
present behavioral evidence that the marginal willingness to remit was increased
by the availability of mobile money. Finally, we observe a tendency for mobile
money to substitute traditional alternatives for both savings and remittances.
Descrição
Palavras-chave
mobile money remittances savings Mozambique