IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/tou/journl/v53y2021p123-146.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How does mobile money affect the use of informal remittance channels in Sub-Saharan Africa?

Author

Listed:
  • Manuela NGABA

    (Centre d’Économie de Paris Nord (UMR CNRS 7234-CEPN), Université Sorbonne Paris Nord)

Abstract

The use of informal remittance channels remains significant in sub-Saharan Africa. How-ever, the importance of mobile money has been growing in the region which is not without effect on the use of informal remittance channels by individuals. Therefore, this study examines the impact of mobile money on the use of informal domestic remittance chan-nels in Sub-Saharan Africa using data from the 2017 Global Findex. The results show that individuals who own and use a mobile money account are less likely to send remittances through an informal channel. This indicates the relevance of digitizing remittances to attract more flows and achieve greater formalization of remittances in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Suggested Citation

  • Manuela NGABA, 2021. "How does mobile money affect the use of informal remittance channels in Sub-Saharan Africa?," Region et Developpement, Region et Developpement, LEAD, Universite du Sud - Toulon Var, vol. 53, pages 123-146.
    • Handle: RePEc:tou:journl:v:53:y:2021:p:123-146
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://regionetdeveloppement.univ-tln.fr/wp-content/uploads/6_Ngaba-formate.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Catia Batista & Pedro C. Vicente, 2013. "Introducing Mobile Money in Rural Mozambique: Evidence from a Field Experiment," Nova SBE Working Paper Series novafrica:wp1301, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Nova School of Business and Economics.
    2. John Page & Sonia Plaza, 2006. "Migration Remittances and Development: A Review of Global Evidence," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 15(2), pages 245-336, December.
    3. Sanket Mohapatra & Dilip Ratha, 2011. "Remittance Markets in Africa," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2292, December.
    4. Adams, Richard Jr. & Page, John, 2005. "Do international migration and remittances reduce poverty in developing countries?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 33(10), pages 1645-1669, October.
    5. John Chiwuzulum Odozi & Timothy Taiwo Awoyemi & Bolarin Titus Omonona, 2010. "Household poverty and inequality: the implication of migrants’ remittances in Nigeria," Journal of Economic Policy Reform, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 13(2), pages 191-199.
    6. World Bank, 2009. "China - From Poor Areas to Poor People : China’s Evolving Poverty Reduction Agenda - An Assessment of Poverty and Inequality in China," World Bank Publications - Reports 3031, The World Bank Group.
    7. John Anyanwu & Andrew E. O. Erhijakpor, 2010. "Do International Remittances Affect Poverty in Africa?," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 22(1), pages 51-91.
    8. Hausman, Jerry & McFadden, Daniel, 1984. "Specification Tests for the Multinomial Logit Model," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(5), pages 1219-1240, September.
    9. David N. Margolis & Luis Miotti & El Mouhoub Mouhoud & Joel Oudinet, 2015. "“To Have and Have Not”: International Migration, Poverty, and Inequality in Algeria," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 117(2), pages 650-685, April.
    10. World Bank, 2009. "China - From Poor Areas to Poor People : China’s Evolving Poverty Reduction Agenda - An Assessment of Poverty and Inequality in China," World Bank Publications - Reports 3033, The World Bank Group.
    11. Lewbel, Arthur, 2000. "Semiparametric qualitative response model estimation with unknown heteroscedasticity or instrumental variables," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 97(1), pages 145-177, July.
    12. Kosse, Anneke & Vermeulen, Robert, 2014. "Migrants’ Choice of Remittance Channel: Do General Payment Habits Play a Role?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 213-227.
    13. Catia Batista & Pedro C. Vicente, 2013. "Introducing mobile money in rural Mozambique: Evidence from a field experiment," NOVAFRICA Working Paper Series wp1301, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Nova School of Business and Economics, NOVAFRICA.
    14. William Jack & Tavneet Suri, 2014. "Risk Sharing and Transactions Costs: Evidence from Kenya's Mobile Money Revolution," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(1), pages 183-223, January.
    15. Jenny C. Aker & Isaac M. Mbiti, 2010. "Mobile Phones and Economic Development in Africa," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 24(3), pages 207-232, Summer.
    16. Sabrine Bair & Ahmed Tritah, 2019. "Mobile Money and Inter-Household Financial Flows: Evidence from Madagascar," Revue économique, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 70(5), pages 847-871.
    17. Dilip Ratha & William Shaw, 2007. "South-South Migration and Remittances," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 6733, December.
    18. Aron, Janine, "undated". "'Leapfrogging': a Survey of the Nature and Economic Implications of Mobile Money," INET Oxford Working Papers 2017-02, Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford, revised Jan 2017.
    19. Adele Atkinson & Flore-Anne Messy, 2013. "Promoting Financial Inclusion through Financial Education: OECD/INFE Evidence, Policies and Practice," OECD Working Papers on Finance, Insurance and Private Pensions 34, OECD Publishing.
    20. Abidin Alhassan & Leon Li & Krishna Reddy & Geeta Duppati, 2019. "The impact of formal financial inclusion on informal financial intermediation and cash preference: evidence from Africa," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(42), pages 4597-4614, September.
    21. James Heckman & Salvador Navarro-Lozano, 2004. "Using Matching, Instrumental Variables, and Control Functions to Estimate Economic Choice Models," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 86(1), pages 30-57, February.
    22. Adams, Richard H., Jr. & Cuecuecha, Alfredo & Page, John, 2008. "The impact of remittances on poverty and inequality in Ghana," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4732, The World Bank.
    23. Maitra, Pushkar & Ray, Ranjan, 2003. "The effect of transfers on household expenditure patterns and poverty in South Africa," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(1), pages 23-49, June.
    24. Small, Kenneth A & Hsiao, Cheng, 1985. "Multinomial Logit Specification Tests," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 26(3), pages 619-627, October.
    25. Isaac Mbiti & David N. Weil, 2015. "Mobile Banking: The Impact of M-Pesa in Kenya," NBER Chapters, in: African Successes, Volume III: Modernization and Development, pages 247-293, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    26. World Bank, 2009. "China - From Poor Areas to Poor People : China's Evolving Poverty Reduction Agenda - An Assessment of Poverty and Inequality in China : Executive Summary," World Bank Publications - Reports 3199, The World Bank Group.
    27. Maria Cristina Zhunio & Sharmila Vishwasrao & Eric P. Chiang, 2012. "The influence of remittances on education and health outcomes: a cross country study," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(35), pages 4605-4616, December.
    28. Aga, Gemechu Ayana & Soledad Martinez Peria, Maria, 2014. "International remittances and financial inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6991, The World Bank.
    29. Munyegera, Ggombe Kasim & Matsumoto, Tomoya, 2016. "Mobile Money, Remittances, and Household Welfare: Panel Evidence from Rural Uganda," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 127-137.
    30. Richard Adams, 2011. "Evaluating the Economic Impact of International Remittances On Developing Countries Using Household Surveys: A Literature Review," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(6), pages 809-828.
    31. Freund, Caroline & Spatafora, Nikola, 2008. "Remittances, transaction costs, and informality," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(2), pages 356-366, June.
    32. Éric Darmon & Laetitia Chaix & Dominique Torre, 2016. "M-payment use and remittances in developing countries: a theoretical analysis," Revue d'économie industrielle, De Boeck Université, vol. 0(4), pages 159-183.
    33. Janine Aron, 2018. "Mobile Money and the Economy: A Review of the Evidence," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 33(2), pages 135-188.
    34. Aggarwal, Reena & Demirguc-Kunt, Asli & Martinez Peria, Maria Soledad, 2006. "Do workers'remittances promote financial development ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3957, The World Bank.
    35. Wooldridge, Jeffrey M., 1997. "On two stage least squares estimation of the average treatment effect in a random coefficient model," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 129-133, October.
    36. John Chiwuzulum Odozi & Timothy Taiwo Awoyemi & Bolarin Titus Omonona, 2010. "Household poverty and inequality: the implication of migrants' remittances in Nigeria," Journal of Economic Policy Reform, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(2), pages 191-199.
    37. Torre Dominique & Eric Darmon & Laetitia Chaix, 2016. "M-payment use and remittances in developing countries: a theoretical analysis," Post-Print halshs-01576774, HAL.
    38. J. Scott Long & Jeremy Freese, 2006. "Regression Models for Categorical Dependent Variables using Stata, 2nd Edition," Stata Press books, StataCorp LP, edition 2, number long2, March.
    39. Mr. Mohammed El Qorchi & Mr. Samuel Munzele Maimbo & Mr. John F. Wilson, 2003. "Informal Funds Transfer Systems: An Analysis of the Informal Hawala System," IMF Occasional Papers 2003/004, International Monetary Fund.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lashitew, Addisu A. & van Tulder, Rob & Liasse, Yann, 2019. "Mobile phones for financial inclusion: What explains the diffusion of mobile money innovations?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(5), pages 1201-1215.
    2. Bang, James T. & Mitra, Aniruddha & Wunnava, Phanindra V., 2016. "Do remittances improve income inequality? An instrumental variable quantile analysis of the Kenyan case," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 394-402.
    3. Serge Ky & Clovis Rugemintwari & Alain Sauviat, 2018. "Does Mobile Money Affect Saving Behaviour? Evidence from a Developing Country," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 27(3), pages 285-320.
    4. Joel OUDINET, 2021. "Introduction - L’impact de la migration sur le développement inclusif," Region et Developpement, Region et Developpement, LEAD, Universite du Sud - Toulon Var, vol. 53, pages 5-21.
    5. Avom, Désiré & Bangaké, Chrysost & Ndoya, Hermann, 2023. "Do financial innovations improve financial inclusion? Evidence from mobile money adoption in Africa," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    6. Anthea Paelo & Simon Roberts, 2022. "Competition and Regulation of Mobile Money Platforms in Africa: A Comparative Analysis of Kenya and Uganda," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 60(3), pages 463-489, May.
    7. Joel Oudinet, 2021. "L’impact de la migration sur le développement inclusif," Post-Print hal-04065384, HAL.
    8. Aggarwal, Reena & Demirgüç-Kunt, Asli & Pería, Maria Soledad Martínez, 2011. "Do remittances promote financial development?," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(2), pages 255-264, November.
    9. Luc Jacolin & Joseph Keneck Massil & Alphonse Noah, 2021. "Informal sector and mobile financial services in emerging and developing countries: Does financial innovation matter?," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(9), pages 2703-2737, September.
    10. Junaid Ahmed & Mazhar Mughal & Inmaculada Martínez‐Zarzoso, 2021. "Sending money home: Transaction cost and remittances to developing countries," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(8), pages 2433-2459, August.
    11. Asif Islam & Silvia Muzi & Jorge Luis Rodriguez Meza, 2018. "Does mobile money use increase firms’ investment? Evidence from Enterprise Surveys in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 51(3), pages 687-708, October.
    12. Imtiaz Arif & Syed Ali Raza & Anita Friemann & Muhammad Tahir Suleman, 2019. "The Role of Remittances in the Development of Higher Education: Evidence from Top Remittance Receiving Countries," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 141(3), pages 1233-1243, February.
    13. Fagbemi, Fisayo & Olufolahan, Toyin, 2019. "Capital inflows, financial development and poverty reduction in Nigeria," MPRA Paper 112784, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 04 Apr 2019.
    14. Bang, James T. & Mitra, Aniruddha & Wunnava, Phanindra V., 2018. "Hollowing Out the Middle? Remittances and Income Inequality in Nigeria," IZA Discussion Papers 11438, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Daniel Kandie & Khan Jahirul Islam, 2022. "A new era of microfinance: The digital microcredit and its impact on poverty," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(3), pages 469-492, April.
    16. Chiara, De Gasperin & Valentina, Rotondi & Luca, Stanca, 2019. "Mobile Money and the Labor Market: Evidence from Developing Countries," Working Papers 403, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics, revised Mar 2019.
    17. Miyajima, Ken, 2022. "Mobile phone ownership and welfare: Evidence from South Africa’s household survey," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    18. Riley, Emma, 2018. "Mobile money and risk sharing against village shocks," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 43-58.
    19. Iddisah Sulemana & Louis Doabil & Ebenezer Bugri Anarfo, 2019. "International Remittances and Subjective Wellbeing in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Micro-level Study," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 40(3), pages 524-539, September.
    20. Joël Cariolle & David A Carroll, 2022. "The Use of Digital for Public Service Provision in Sub-Saharan Africa," Working Papers hal-03004535, HAL.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Mobile Money ; Informal Remittances ; Sub-Saharan Africa;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:tou:journl:v:53:y:2021:p:123-146. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Christophe Van Huffel (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/letlnfr.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.