世界发展银行-Does-Mobile-Money-Improve-Livelihoods-for-Households-in-Poor-and-Remote-Areas__2页_228kb

Finance & PSD Impact Summary

Core Content

This document presents the findings of an experimental study conducted in rural Northern Uganda to evaluate the impact of mobile money on household livelihoods in poor and remote areas. The study was carried out by Miriam Bruhn and Christina Wieser, with support from the World Bank and collaboration with Airtel Uganda.

Key Findings

The study found that mobile money significantly improves livelihoods in remote and poor areas, particularly in terms of non-farm self-employment and food security. These effects were more pronounced in areas that were far from bank branches (greater than 25.2 km), where access to traditional financial services is limited.

Main Points

• Mobile Money Access: The study focused on areas where only 28% of households owned a mobile phone and 15% received remittances, highlighting the gap in financial inclusion.
• Agent Rollout: Airtel Money agents were introduced in these areas, with a professional services firm assisting in their activation. 320 agents were successfully activated, and about half of the treatment clusters received at least one agent.
• Services Offered: Airtel Money agents provided a range of services, including cash withdrawals, deposits, airtime purchase, money transfers, bill payments, and payments for goods and services.
• Study Design: The research used a randomized controlled trial (RCT) approach, drawing a sample of enumeration areas (EAs) and grouping them into clusters to minimize spillover effects. A 0.5 km buffer was used to define cluster boundaries.
• Impact on Remittances: Households in treatment areas experienced cost savings in remittance transactions, with a reduction in the percentage of remittance receivers paying transportation costs from 31% to 18%.
• Food Security: The agent rollout led to a reduction in households with very low food security from 63% to 47%.
• Shock Response: Households in treatment areas were more likely to take on work and less likely to change their diet in response to negative shocks like droughts or floods.
• Non-Farm Employment: The fraction of households working in non-farm self-employment doubled in treatment areas.

Policy Implications

The study concludes that mobile money can enhance livelihoods in remote and poor areas, even when traditional financial services are not accessible. It supports the idea that mobile money increases remittance receipts and reduces transaction costs, which is particularly beneficial for households in such regions.

However, the study did not find a significant effect on poverty reduction, possibly due to the short follow-up period (six months) compared to previous studies that observed poverty impacts over a four-year period. This suggests that while mobile money has immediate positive effects, longer-term outcomes may require additional time to materialize.

Further Reading

For more detailed information, refer to the full working paper:
Wieser, Christina, Miriam Bruhn, Johannes Kinzinger, Christian Ruckteschler, and Soren Heitmann. 2019.
"The Impact of Mobile Money on Poor Rural Households: Experimental Evidence from Uganda."
World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 8913.

Additional Resources

Recent impact notes are available on the World Bank website:
http://www.worldbank.org/en/research/brief/finance-and-private-sector-impact-evaluation-policy-notes