NBER-移动支付、互操作性和金融包容性-95页_2mb

Mobile Money, Interoperability, and Financial Inclusion

Authors: Markus K. Brunnermeier, Nicola Limodio, Lorenzo Spadavecchia
Working Paper: 31696
Date: September 2023

Key Points

1. Introduction:
   The paper examines how competition, induced by platform interoperability, affects mobile money companies and its impact on financial inclusion. Interoperability facilitates transactions between users of different mobile money platforms, which may lead to competitive price reductions but also reduce infrastructure investment.

2. Main Findings:

   • Price Effects: The introduction of interoperability led to a significant reduction in mobile money fees, especially for small-transaction amounts. For on-network transactions, fees decreased by approximately 20%; for cross-network transactions, the reduction was about 45%.
   • Coverage Effect: Interoperability also reduced network coverage and the number of mobile network operators, especially in rural and poorer districts. This was driven primarily by dominant operators who had previously capitalized on lack of competition.
   • Financial Inclusion: The results highlight a trade-off: while competition can lower prices and improve access for some users, reduced infrastructure investment harms financial inclusion, particularly in areas with high costs for extending network coverage.

3. Policy Implications:

   • Policymakers must balance competition and financial inclusion. While interoperability reduces fees, it may threaten network availability in remote areas.
   • Combining interoperability with subsidies for rural infrastructure could mitigate negative effects on financial inclusion by maintaining network coverage while lowering fees.
   • Regulations should carefully consider the heterogeneous effects of interoperability based on geographic and economic contexts.

Methods and Data

• Theoretical Framework: A model combining competition (Laffont et al., 1997) and infrastructure investment (Bianchi et al., 2022).
• Data: Innovative data on mobile money fees, network coverage, and financial inclusion from African countries (2010-2020).
• Identification: Exploits a natural experiment—the staggered introduction of interoperability across African countries.
• Empirical Strategy: Event studies, difference-in-differences, and regression analyses with controls for confounders.

Conclusion

The paper argues that while interoperability promotes competition and reduces consumer prices, it may have negative effects on network coverage and thus financial inclusion in the long run. These findings indicate that policies promoting digital payments should consider infrastructure costs and heterogeneity across regions to avoid unintended negative consequences.