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...

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Main Authors:	Wieser, Christina, Bruhn, Miriam, Kinzinger, Johannes, Ruckteschler, Christian, Heitmann, Soren
Format:	Working Paper
Language:	English
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2019
Subjects:	MOBILE MONEY REMITTANCES FOOD SECURITY RURAL INCOME POVERTY SELF EMPLOYMENT
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

id	okr-10986-31978
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-319782022-09-20T00:12:46Z The Impact of Mobile Money on Poor Rural Households : Experimental Evidence from Uganda Wieser, Christina Bruhn, Miriam Kinzinger, Johannes Ruckteschler, Christian Heitmann, Soren MOBILE MONEY REMITTANCES FOOD SECURITY RURAL INCOME POVERTY SELF EMPLOYMENT 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. 2019-06-26T19:55:51Z 2019-06-26T19:55:51Z 2019-06 Working Paper 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 English Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8913 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Africa Uganda
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	English
topic	MOBILE MONEY REMITTANCES FOOD SECURITY RURAL INCOME POVERTY SELF EMPLOYMENT
spellingShingle	MOBILE MONEY REMITTANCES FOOD SECURITY RURAL INCOME POVERTY SELF EMPLOYMENT Wieser, Christina Bruhn, Miriam Kinzinger, Johannes Ruckteschler, Christian Heitmann, Soren The Impact of Mobile Money on Poor Rural Households : Experimental Evidence from Uganda
geographic_facet	Africa Uganda
relation	Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8913
description	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.
format	Working Paper
author	Wieser, Christina Bruhn, Miriam Kinzinger, Johannes Ruckteschler, Christian Heitmann, Soren
author_facet	Wieser, Christina Bruhn, Miriam Kinzinger, Johannes Ruckteschler, Christian Heitmann, Soren
author_sort	Wieser, Christina
title	The Impact of Mobile Money on Poor Rural Households : Experimental Evidence from Uganda
title_short	The Impact of Mobile Money on Poor Rural Households : Experimental Evidence from Uganda
title_full	The Impact of Mobile Money on Poor Rural Households : Experimental Evidence from Uganda
title_fullStr	The Impact of Mobile Money on Poor Rural Households : Experimental Evidence from Uganda
title_full_unstemmed	The Impact of Mobile Money on Poor Rural Households : Experimental Evidence from Uganda
title_sort	impact of mobile money on poor rural households : experimental evidence from uganda
publisher	World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate	2019
url	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
_version_	1764475505795399680

The Impact of Mobile Money on Poor Rural Households : Experimental Evidence from Uganda

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