Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/272728 
Year of Publication: 
2023
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 16101
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
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.
Subjects: 
mobile money
migration
remittances
investment
agriculture
structural change
technology adoption
insurance
Mozambique
Africa
JEL: 
O12
O15
O16
O33
G20
R23
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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