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Cátia Batista
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Publisher: Journals Gateway
The Review of Economics and Statistics 1–10.
Published: 14 March 2025
Abstract
View articletitled, Is Mobile Money Changing Rural Africa? Evidence from a Field Experiment
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for article titled, Is Mobile Money Changing Rural Africa? Evidence from a Field Experiment
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 georeferenced village-level floods and household-level idiosyncratic shocks. Our work suggests that mobile money can accelerate urbanization and structural change in sub-Saharan Africa.
Includes: Supplementary data