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Mobile Money, Remittances and Rural Household Welfare: Panel Evidence from Uganda

Author

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  • Ggombe Kasim Munyegera

    (National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies)

  • Tomoya Matsumoto

    (National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies)

Abstract

Mobile money service in Uganda has expanded rapidly, penetrating as much as over 30 percent of the adult population in just four years since its inception. We investigate the impact of this financial innovation on household welfare, using household survey panel data from rural Uganda. Results from our preferred specification reveal that adopting mobile money services increases household per capita consumption by 72 percent. The mechanism of this impact is the facilitation of remittances; user households are more likely to receive remittances, receive remittances more frequently and the total value received is significantly higher than that of non-user households. Our results are robust to a number of robustness checks. JEL (O16, O17, O33, I131)

Suggested Citation

  • Ggombe Kasim Munyegera & Tomoya Matsumoto, 2014. "Mobile Money, Remittances and Rural Household Welfare: Panel Evidence from Uganda," GRIPS Discussion Papers 14-22, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies.
    • Handle: RePEc:ngi:dpaper:14-22
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    Cited by:

    1. Mayanja, Musa & Adong, Annet, 2016. "A pathway to financial inclusion: mobile money and individual Savings in Uganda," Research Series 242365, Economic Policy Research Centre (EPRC).
    2. Conrad Murendo & Meike Wollni & Alan De Brauw & Nicholas Mugabi, 2018. "Social Network Effects on Mobile Money Adoption in Uganda," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 54(2), pages 327-342, February.
    3. Patrick-Hervé Mbouombouo Mfossa, 2022. "Mobile money-driven financial inclusion, exposure to shocks and households' financial resilience strategies adoption process: Evidence from Cameroon [Inclusion financière via le mobile money, expos," Working Papers hal-03614064, HAL.
    4. Ggombe Kasim Munyegera & Tomoya Matsumoto, 2015. "ICT for Financial Inclusion: Mobile Money and the Financial Behavior of Rural Households in Uganda," GRIPS Discussion Papers 15-20, National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies.
    5. Alleluyanatha, Esther & Awotide, Bola Amoke & Dontsop-Nguezet, Paul Martins & Coulibaly, Amadou Youssouf & Bello, Lateef & Abdoulaye, Tahirou & Manyong, Victor & Bamba, Zoumana, 2021. "Effect of Youth Migration and Remittances on RURAL Households’ Livelihoods in South-Eastern Nigeria," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315200, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    6. Lwanga, Musa & Adong, Annet, 2016. "A pathway to financial inclusion: mobile money and individual Savings in Uganda," Research Series 234553, Economic Policy Research Centre (EPRC).
    7. Lwanga Mayanja, Musa & Adong, Annet, 2016. "A pathway to financial inclusion: Mobile money and individual savings in Uganda," Research Reports 253557, Economic Policy Research Centre (EPRC).
    8. Mahamadou Roufahi Tankari, 2018. "Mobile Phone and Households¡¯ Poverty: Evidence from Niger," Journal of Economic Development, Chung-Ang Unviersity, Department of Economics, vol. 43(2), pages 67-84, June.
    9. Samuel Orekoya, Phd, . "Impact Of Mobile Money On Prices And Output In Nigeria," Journal of Economic and Sustainable Growth 1, Office Of The Chief Economist, Development Bank of Nigeria.
    10. Cornelius, Kalenzi & Kwon, Youngsun, 2018. "Digital Finance Revolution in E. Africa: Retail Bank's Adaption to a changing Marketplace," 22nd ITS Biennial Conference, Seoul 2018. Beyond the boundaries: Challenges for business, policy and society 190340, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    11. Melain Modeste Senou & Denis Acclassato Houensou, 2024. "From expanding financial services to tackling poverty in West African Economic and Monetary Union: The accelerating role of mobile money," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 36(3), pages 1707-1737, April.
    12. Ahmad Hassan Ahmad & Christopher Green & Fei Jiang, 2020. "Mobile Money, Financial Inclusion And Development: A Review With Reference To African Experience," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(4), pages 753-792, September.
    13. Dube, Thulani & Chummun, Bibi Zaheenah, 2019. "Mobile Money access and usage among the rural communities in Zimbabwe," MPRA Paper 97578, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 05 Dec 2019.
    14. Murendo, Conrad & Wollni, Meike, 2016. "Mobile money and household food security in Uganda," GlobalFood Discussion Papers 229805, Georg-August-Universitaet Goettingen, GlobalFood, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • O16 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Financial Markets; Saving and Capital Investment; Corporate Finance and Governance
    • O17 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

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