| Popis: |
The majority of low-income people in developing worlds did not have access to affordable financial services until recently. The mobile money service is a breakthrough and provides financial services for those who were previously unbanked. This study investigates whether mobile money remittances can really help low-income people prevent themselves from falling into short-term poverty, using the detailed transaction data collected in Kenya. By using Difference-in-Difference strategy, I find short-term income shocks affect household consumption immediately and drive households into short-term poverty by 5.6%. Meanwhile, mobile money receiver households are less likely to consume below the poverty line, by asking help from relatives or friends living far away across the country. This effect is observed not only in worse-off months but also in better-off months, indicating its effect on lower-income people in wider financial conditions. By running some robustness checks with other covariates controlled for as well as with sub-samples, I find the results of which are consistent with the main effects. |
