The Impact of Mobile Money on Poor Rural Households : Experimental Evidence from Uganda
This paper studies the effect of rolling out mobile money agents in rural Northern Uganda. In a randomized experiment, 168 areas were randomly selected to receive an agent in 2017, with another 163 areas serving as a control group. Administrative d...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2019
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/134341561467884789/The-Impact-of-Mobile-Money-on-Poor-Rural-Households-Experimental-Evidence-from-Uganda http://hdl.handle.net/10986/31978 |
| Summary: | This paper studies the effect of rolling
out mobile money agents in rural Northern Uganda. In a
randomized experiment, 168 areas were randomly selected to
receive an agent in 2017, with another 163 areas serving as
a control group. Administrative data on mobile money
transactions suggest that the agent rollout increased the
probability of sending and receiving peer-to-peer transfers.
Data from a 2018 survey of more than 4,500 households show
that the agent rollout led to cost-savings for remittance
transactions. It also doubled the nonfarm self-employment
rate, from 3.4 to 6.4 percent, and reduced the fraction of
households with very low food security from 62.9 to 47.2
percent, in areas far from a bank branch. The analysis finds
no effect on savings, agricultural outcomes, or poverty.
Overall, the findings add new evidence that mobile money can
improve livelihoods even in poor and remote settings. |
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