Mobile Money, Individuals’ Payments, Remittances, and Investments: Evidence from the Ashanti Region, Ghana

While many studies that are focused on mobile money concern the effects of mobile money on consumption and informal risk-sharing, little evidence is provided on how mobile money influences payments and microbusiness investment for low-income people. We estimate the effects of access to mobile money on individuals’ payments and income-generating activities by using data from the Ashanti Region of Ghana. Based on propensity-score matching and propensity-score weighted regression, we find that participation in mobile money is not dependent on individuals’ financial status. We also observe that mobile-money users are likely to send and receive larger volumes of payments and remittances. We further find that mobile-money users are more likely to save higher amounts, invest more in education, microbusinesses, land, and buildings, and also consume more relative to non-users.