Mobile money, market transactions, and household income in rural Kenya

Enoch M. Kikulwe, Elisabeth Fischer and Matin Qaim

No 155847, GlobalFood Discussion Papers from Georg-August-Universitaet Goettingen, GlobalFood, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development

Abstract: Mobile phone based money services have spread rapidly in many developing countries. We analyze micro level impacts using panel data from smallholder farmers in Kenya. Mobile money use has a large positive net impact on household income. One important pathway is through remittances, which contribute to income directly but also help to reduce risk and liquidity constraints, thus promoting agricultural commercialization. Mobile money users apply more purchased inputs, market a larger proportion of their output, and have higher farm profits. These results suggest that mobile money can help to overcome some of the important market access constraints of smallholder farmers.

Keywords: Agricultural Finance; Community/Rural/Urban Development; Institutional and Behavioral Economics; International Development; Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 36
Date: 2013-08
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:gagfdp:155847

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.155847

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