Kenya's Mobile Revolution and the Promise of Mobile Savings

Abstract

The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank and its affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent.

The Comparative Exploration of Mobile Money Services in Inclusive Development

“…Economic opportunities in developing countries are increasingly being ameliorated with the conversion of mobile phones into pocket banks which are enabling a great part of the population that was previously excluded from financial institutions to have the much needed financial access (Demombynes & Thegeya, 2012 Ojo et al (2012) and Mishra and Bisht, 2013). Hence, by using macroeconomic mobile money service data from 93 developing countries to confirm findings established by previous studies (essentially based on survey-oriented, country-specific and microeconomic data), we have confirmed the importance of tailoring holistic policies towards addressing global concerns of inequality, poverty and immiserising growth in developing countries.…”

The impact of mobile phone penetration on African inequality

“…According to Asongu, it was expected that by the end of 2012, most villages in Africa would have had coverage with only a handful of countries relatively unconnected. In line with Demombynes & Thegeya (2012), Kenya is the example of an African country that has undergone a remarkable information and communication technology (ICT) revolution. Accordingly, towards to end of the 1990s, less than 3% of Kenyan households owned a telephone and less than 1 in 1000 Kenyan adults had mobile phone service.…”

“…There is also an option for a mobile money customer to make a transfer to someone who is not registered with the same network. In this option, when notice of the transfer is received through an SMS text message, the recipient can receive the cash at a mobile money agent (Demombynes, & Thegeya, 2012;Asongu, 2013b).…”

“…As highlighted in the introduction, most studies on mobile penetration have been theoretical and qualitative in nature (Maurer, 2008;Jonathan & Camilo, 2008;Merritt, 2010;Thacker & Wright, 2012). The few existing empirical works hinge on country-specific and micro-level data mostly collected from surveys (Demombynes & Thegeya, 2012). Hence, this missing gap in the literature provides a unique opportunity to complement existing literature with a macroeconomic assessment of the mobile-inequality nexus.…”

“…Most studies on mobile penetration have been theoretical and qualitative in nature (Maurer, 2008;Jonathan & Camilo, 2008;Merritt, 2010;Thacker & Wright, 2012). The few existing empirical works hinge on country-specific and micro-level data mostly collected from surveys (Demombynes & Thegeya, 2012).…”