IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ecaffa/v38y2018i2p197-206.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Electronic Currency In Africa: M†Pesa As Private Inside Money

Author

Listed:
  • Malavika Nair
  • Rahimat Emozozo

Abstract

Electronic monies such as Bitcoin and mobile money have become popular in recent times. However, unlike with bitcoin, attempts to classify M†Pesa theoretically have been rare. This article classifies M†Pesa as a privately issued inside money, which evolved as an entrepreneurial response to the lack of traditional monies. It describes the institutional framework within which M†Pesa and other monies evolved while highlighting how competitive forces led to mutual acceptance of competing inside monies, lower prices as well as greater choice for consumers. The case of M†Pesa and other electronic monies illustrates the potential even today for entrepreneurial and market processes in money given the right institutional setting, especially in developing countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Malavika Nair & Rahimat Emozozo, 2018. "Electronic Currency In Africa: M†Pesa As Private Inside Money," Economic Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(2), pages 197-206, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecaffa:v:38:y:2018:i:2:p:197-206
    DOI: 10.1111/ecaf.12292
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/ecaf.12292
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/ecaf.12292?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:bla:intfin:v:3:y:2000:i:2:p:211-27 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. 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.
    3. Bossone, Biagio, 2000. "What makes banks special ? a study of banking, finance, and economic development," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2408, The World Bank.
    4. Temzelides, Ted & Williamson, Stephen D., 2001. "Private money, settlement, and discounts," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 85-108, June.
    5. Bruce Smith & Warren E. Weber, 1999. "Private money creation and the Suffolk Banking System," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, pages 624-667.
    6. Redish, Angela, 1990. "The Evolution of the Gold Standard in England," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 50(4), pages 789-805, December.
    7. Cyril Monnet & Daniel R. Sanches, 2015. "Private Money and Banking Regulation," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 47(6), pages 1031-1062, September.
    8. Andrew B. Whinston & Paula Hernandez-Verme & Haibo Huang, 2004. "Private Electronic Money, Fiat Money and the Payments System," Econometric Society 2004 North American Summer Meetings 503, Econometric Society.
    9. Timberlake, Richard H, 1987. "Private Production of Scrip-Money in the Isolated Community," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 19(4), pages 437-447, November.
    10. Joseph Noko, 2011. "Dollarization: The Case of Zimbabwe," Cato Journal, Cato Journal, Cato Institute, vol. 31(2), pages 339-365, Spring/Su.
    11. Selgin, George, 1994. "Free Banking and Monetary Control," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 104(427), pages 1449-1459, November.
    12. Nathalie Janson, 2002. "The development of electronic money: toward the privatization of money issue," Working Papers hal-00605043, HAL.
    13. World Bank, 2014. "Global Financial Development Report 2014 : Financial Inclusion," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 16238.
    14. Freedman, 2000. "Monetary Policy Implementation: Past, Present and Future – Will Electronic Money Lead to the Eventual Demise of Central Banking?," International Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 3(2), pages 211-227, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Nassim Nicholas Taleb, 2021. "Bitcoin, Currencies, and Fragility," Papers 2106.14204, arXiv.org, revised Jul 2021.

    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. Rouse, Marybeth & Verhoef, y Grietjie, 2017. "Mobile banking in Sub-Saharan Africa: setting the way towards financial development," MPRA Paper 78006, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Bullard, James & Smith, Bruce D., 2003. "The value of inside and outside money," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 389-417, March.
    3. Stephen Williamson, 2000. "The Research Agenda: Payment Systems and Private Money," EconomicDynamics Newsletter, Review of Economic Dynamics, vol. 2(1), November.
    4. 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.
    5. Kass-Hanna, Josephine & Lyons, Angela C. & Liu, Fan, 2022. "Building financial resilience through financial and digital literacy in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(PA).
    6. repec:wvu:wpaper:10-20 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Kabakova, Oksana & Plaksenkov, Evgeny, 2018. "Analysis of factors affecting financial inclusion: Ecosystem view," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 198-205.
    8. Li, Yan, 2009. "The theory of fiat money and private money as alternative media of exchange," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 568-582, October.
    9. Young, Andrew T. & Dove, John A., 2013. "Policing the chain gang: Panel cointegration analysis of the stability of the Suffolk System, 1825–1858," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 182-196.
    10. Salter, Alexander William & Young, Andrew T., 2018. "A theory of self-enforcing monetary constitutions with reference to the Suffolk System, 1825–1858," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 13-22.
    11. James B. Bullard & Bruce Smith, 2001. "The value of inside and outside money: expanded version," Working Papers 2001-011, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
    12. Pascaline Dupas & Sarah Green & Anthony Keats & Jonathan Robinson, 2014. "Challenges in Banking the Rural Poor: Evidence from Kenya's Western Province," NBER Chapters, in: African Successes, Volume III: Modernization and Development, pages 63-101, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. François Fall & Akim Almouksit, 2016. "The impact of formal financing on small informal enterprises in Comoros," Working Papers hal-01566389, HAL.
    14. Christie Smith & Aaron Kumar, 2018. "Crypto‐Currencies – An Introduction To Not‐So‐Funny Moneys," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(5), pages 1531-1559, December.
    15. Simplice A. Asongu, 2014. "Knowledge Economy and Financial Sector Competition in African Countries," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 26(2), pages 333-346, June.
    16. Rita Martins de Sousa, 2019. "Portugal adoption of the gold standard: political reasons for a monetary choice (1846-1854)," Working Papers GHES - Office of Economic and Social History 2019/64, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, GHES - Social and Economic History Research Unit, Universidade de Lisboa.
    17. Neha Arora & Naresh Kumar, 2021. "Does Financial Inclusion Promote Human Development? Evidence from India," Jindal Journal of Business Research, , vol. 10(2), pages 163-184, December.
    18. Ashish Kumar Sedai, Rabindra Nepal, and Tooraj Jamasb, 2022. "Electrification and Socio-Economic Empowerment of Women in India," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 2).
    19. Singh, Nirvikar, 2018. "Financial Inclusion: Concepts, Issues and Policies for India," MPRA Paper 91047, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Gallego-Losada, María-Jesús & Montero-Navarro, Antonio & García-Abajo, Elisa & Gallego-Losada, Rocío, 2023. "Digital financial inclusion. Visualizing the academic literature," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    21. Daniel Sanches, 2016. "On the Inherent Instability of Private Money," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 20, pages 198-214, April.

    More about this item

    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:bla:ecaffa:v:38:y:2018:i:2:p:197-206. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0265-0665 .

    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.