[go: up one dir, main page]
More Web Proxy on the site http://driver.im/
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/agd/wpaper/23-046.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The role of mobile money innovations in the effect of inequality on poverty and severity of poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Simplice A. Asongu

    (Oxford, UK)

  • Sara le Roux

    (Oxford, UK)

Abstract
This study investigates the role of mobile money innovations in the incidence of income inequality on poverty and severity of poverty in 42 sub-Saharan African countries over the period 1980 to 2019. Mobile money innovations are understood as the mobile used to send money and the mobile used to pay bills online while income inequality is measured with the Gini index. Poverty is measured as the poverty headcount ratio while the severity of poverty is generated as the squared of the poverty gap index. The empirical evidence is based on interactive Quantile regressions. The following main findings are established. (i) Income inequality unconditionally reduces poverty and the severity of poverty though the significance is not throughout the conditional distributions of poverty and the severity of poverty. (ii) Mobile money innovations significantly moderate the positive incidence of income inequality on poverty and the severity of poverty in some quantiles. (iii) Positive net effects are apparent exclusively in the poverty regressions. (iv) Given the negative conditional effects, policy thresholds or minimum mobile money innovation levels needed to completely nullify the positive incidence of income inequality on poverty are provided: 27.666 (% age 15+) and 24.000 (% age 15+) of the mobile used to send money in the 50th and 75th quantiles, respectively and 16.272 (% age 15+) and 13.666 (% age 15+) of the mobile used to pay bills online in the 10th and 50th quantiles, respectively. Policy implications are discussed with respect of SDG1 on poverty reduction and SDG10 on inequality mitigation.

Suggested Citation

  • Simplice A. Asongu & Sara le Roux, 2023. "The role of mobile money innovations in the effect of inequality on poverty and severity of poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 23/046, African Governance and Development Institute..
    • Handle: RePEc:agd:wpaper:23/046
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.afridev.org/RePEc/agd/agd-wpaper/The-role-of-mobile-money-innovations-in-the-effect-of-inequality-on-poverty-and-severity-of-poverty.pdf
    File Function: Revised version, 2023
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ayoub Yousefi, 2011. "The impact of information and communication technology on economic growth: evidence from developed and developing countries," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(6), pages 581-596, November.
    2. Asongu, Simplice A. & Biekpe, Nicholas & Cassimon, Danny, 2021. "On the diffusion of mobile phone innovations for financial inclusion," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    3. Vanessa Simen Tchamyou, 2020. "Education, lifelong learning, inequality and financial access: evidence from African countries," Contemporary Social Science, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(1), pages 7-25, January.
    4. Simplice Asongu & Ndemaze Asongu, 2018. "The comparative exploration of mobile money services in inclusive development," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 45(1), pages 124-139, January.
    5. Simplice A. Asongu, 2018. "CO2 emission thresholds for inclusive human development in Sub-Saharan Africa," Research Africa Network Working Papers 18/023, Research Africa Network (RAN).
    6. Meniago, Christelle & Asongu, Simplice A., 2018. "Revisiting the finance-inequality nexus in a panel of African countries," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 399-419.
    7. Joseph I. Uduji & Elda N. Okolo-Obasi & Simplice A. Asongu, 2019. "Electronic wallet technology and the enabling environment of smallholder farmers in Nigeria," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 19/041, African Governance and Development Institute..
    8. Abhipsa Pal & Rahul De’ & Tejaswini Herath, 2020. "The Role of Mobile Payment Technology in Sustainable and Human-Centric Development: Evidence from the Post-Demonetization Period in India," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 22(3), pages 607-631, June.
    9. Simplice A. Asongu & Vanessa S. Tchamyou, 2020. "Human capital, knowledge creation, knowledge diffusion, institutions and economic incentives: South Korea versus Africa," Contemporary Social Science, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(1), pages 26-47, January.
    10. Asongu, Simplice A. & Biekpe, Nicholas & Cassimon, Danny, 2020. "Understanding the greater diffusion of mobile money innovations in Africa," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(8).
    11. Boateng, Agyenim & Asongu, Simplice & Akamavi, Raphael & Tchamyou, Vanessa, 2018. "Information asymmetry and market power in the African banking industry," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 69-83.
    12. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2018. "Human development thresholds for inclusive mobile banking in developing countries," African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(6), pages 735-744, September.
    13. Tchamyou, Vanessa S. & Erreygers, Guido & Cassimon, Danny, 2019. "Inequality, ICT and financial access in Africa," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 169-184.
    14. Koenker, Roger W & Bassett, Gilbert, Jr, 1978. "Regression Quantiles," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 46(1), pages 33-50, January.
    15. Davidmac O. Ekeocha & Chimere O. Iheonu, 2021. "Household‐level poverty, consumption poverty thresholds, income inequality and quality of lives in sub‐Saharan Africa," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 33(2), pages 234-248, June.
    16. Simplice Asongu, 2014. "The Questionable Economics of Development Assistance in Africa: Hot-Fresh Evidence, 1996–2010," The Review of Black Political Economy, Springer;National Economic Association, vol. 41(4), pages 455-480, December.
    17. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2023. "Female unemployment, mobile money innovations and doing business by females," Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 1-26, December.
    18. Ilias O. Pappas & Patrick Mikalef & Yogesh K. Dwivedi & Letizia Jaccheri & John Krogstie, 2023. "Responsible Digital Transformation for a Sustainable Society," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 25(3), pages 945-953, June.
    19. Adams, Samuel & Akobeng, Eric, 2021. "ICT, governance and inequality in Africa," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(10).
    20. Nchofoung, Tii N. & Asongu, Simplice A., 2022. "Effects of infrastructures on environmental quality contingent on trade openness and governance dynamics in Africa," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 152-163.
    21. Asongu, Simplice A., 2017. "Assessing marginal, threshold, and net effects of financial globalisation on financial development in Africa," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 103-114.
    22. Brambor, Thomas & Clark, William Roberts & Golder, Matt, 2006. "Understanding Interaction Models: Improving Empirical Analyses," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(1), pages 63-82, January.
    23. Nchofoung, Tii N. & Achuo, Elvis Dze & Asongu, Simplice A., 2021. "Resource rents and inclusive human development in developing countries," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    24. Suparna Dhar & Indranil Bose, 2023. "Corporate Users’ Attachment to Social Networking Sites: Examining the Role of Social Capital and Perceived Benefits," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 25(3), pages 1197-1217, June.
    25. Billger, Sherrilyn M. & Goel, Rajeev K., 2009. "Do existing corruption levels matter in controlling corruption?: Cross-country quantile regression estimates," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(2), pages 299-305, November.
    26. Abdulqadir, Idris A. & Asongu, Simplice A., 2022. "The asymmetric effect of internet access on economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 44-61.
    27. Vanessa S. Tchamyou, 2019. "The Role of Information Sharing in Modulating the Effect of Financial Access on Inequality," Journal of African Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(3), pages 317-338, July.
    28. Ofori, Isaac K. & Armah, Mark K. & Taale, Francis & Ofori, Pamela E., 2021. "Addressing the Severity and Intensity of Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa: How Relevant is the ICT and Financial Development Pathway?," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, issue forthcomi.
    29. M Vimalkumar & Jang Bahadur Singh & Sujeet Kumar Sharma, 2021. "Exploring the Multi-Level Digital Divide in Mobile Phone Adoption: A Comparison of Developing Nations," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 1057-1076, August.
    30. Thorsten Beck & Asli Demirgüç-Kunt & Ross Levine, 2007. "Finance, inequality and the poor," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 27-49, March.
    31. Chani, Muhammad Irfan & Pervaiz, Zahid & Jan, Sajjad Ahmad & Ali, Amjad & Chaudhary, Amatul R., 2011. "Poverty, inflation and economic growth: empirical evidence from Pakistan," MPRA Paper 34290, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2011.
    32. Tchamyou, Vanessa S. & Asongu, Simplice A., 2017. "Conditional market timing in the mutual fund industry," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 1355-1366.
    33. Simplice A Asongu & Sara Le Roux, 2019. "Understanding Sub-Saharan Africa’s Extreme Poverty Tragedy," International Journal of Public Administration, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(6), pages 457-467, April.
    34. Joseph I. Uduji & Elda N. Okolo‐Obasi & Simplice A. Asongu, 2019. "Growth Enhancement Support Scheme (GESS) and Farmers’ Fertilizer Use in Rural Nigeria," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 31(3), pages 348-363, September.
    35. Nchofoung, Tii N. & Asongu, Simplice A., 2022. "ICT for sustainable development: Global comparative evidence of globalisation thresholds," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(5).
    36. Asongu, Simplice A. & Biekpe, Nicholas, 2018. "ICT, information asymmetry and market power in African banking industry," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 518-531.
    37. Joshua Yindenaba Abor & Mohammed Amidu & Haruna Issahaku, 2018. "Mobile Telephony, Financial Inclusion and Inclusive Growth," Journal of African Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(3), pages 430-453, July.
    38. Joseph I. Uduji & Elda N. Okolo-Obasi & Simplice A. Asongu, 2019. "Growth Enhancement Support Scheme (GESS) and Farmers’ Fertilizer Use in Rural Nigeria," Working Papers 19/055, European Xtramile Centre of African Studies (EXCAS).
    39. Ms. Ratna Sahay & Mr. Ulric Eriksson von Allmen & Ms. Amina Lahreche & Purva Khera & Ms. Sumiko Ogawa & Majid Bazarbash & Ms. Kimberly Beaton, 2020. "The Promise of Fintech: Financial Inclusion in the Post COVID-19 Era," IMF Departmental Papers / Policy Papers 2020/009, International Monetary Fund.
    40. Ajao Qasim & Emad Abu-Shanab, 2016. "Drivers of mobile payment acceptance: The impact of network externalities," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 18(5), pages 1021-1034, October.
    41. George Okello Candiya Bongomin & Joseph M Ntayi & John C. Munene & Charles Akol Malinga, 2018. "Mobile Money and Financial Inclusion in Sub-Saharan Africa: the Moderating Role of Social Networks," Journal of African Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(3), pages 361-384, July.
    42. Mr. Boileau Loko & Yuanchen Yang, 2022. "Fintech, Female Employment, and Gender Inequality," IMF Working Papers 2022/108, International Monetary Fund.
    43. James Agyei & Shaorong Sun & Emmanuel Kofi Penney & Eugene Abrokwah & Eric Kofi Boadi & Darko Dennis Fiifi, 2022. "Internet Banking Services User Adoption in Ghana: An Empirical Study," Journal of African Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(3), pages 599-616, July.
    44. Joseph Ikechukwu Uduji & Elda Nduka Okolo-Obasi & Simplice Anutecia Asongu, 2019. "Electronic wallet technology and the enabling environment of smallholder farmers in Nigeria," Agricultural Finance Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 79(5), pages 666-688, September.
    45. Emily Bacon & Michael D. Williams & Gareth H. Davies, 2023. "On the Combinatory Nature of Knowledge Transfer Conditions: A Mixed Method Assessment," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 25(3), pages 1039-1061, June.
    46. Kwangbin Bae & Dongsook Han & Hosung Sohn, 2012. "Importance of Access to Finance in Reducing Income Inequality and Poverty Level," International Review of Public Administration, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(1), pages 55-77, April.
    47. Polyxeni Vassilakopoulou & Eli Hustad, 2023. "Bridging Digital Divides: a Literature Review and Research Agenda for Information Systems Research," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 25(3), pages 955-969, June.
    48. Aparna Gosavi, 2018. "Can Mobile Money Help Firms Mitigate the Problem of Access to Finance in Eastern sub-Saharan Africa?," Journal of African Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(3), pages 343-360, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Simplice A. Asongu & Emeride F. Kayo & Vanessa S. Tchamyou & Therese E. Zogo, 2024. "Banking concentration, information sharing and women's political empowerment in developing countries," Working Papers of The Association for Promoting Women in Research and Development in Africa (ASPROWORDA). 24/006, The Association for Promoting Women in Research and Development in Africa (ASPROWORDA).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Asongu, Simplice A. & le Roux, Sara, 2023. "The role of mobile money innovations in transforming unemployed women to self-employed women in sub-Saharan Africa," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    2. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2023. "Female unemployment, mobile money innovations and doing business by females," Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 1-26, December.
    3. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2023. "The effect of inequality on poverty and severity of poverty in SSA: the role of financial development institutions," Working Papers 23/030, European Xtramile Centre of African Studies (EXCAS).
    4. Asongu, Simplice A. & Ngoungou, Yolande E. & Nnanna, Joseph, 2023. "Mobile money innovations and health performance in sub-Saharan Africa," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    5. Simplice A. Asongu & Peter Agyemang-Mintah & Joseph Nnanna & Yolande E. Ngoungou, 2024. "Mobile money innovations, income inequality and gender inclusion in sub-Saharan Africa," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 10(1), pages 1-21, December.
    6. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2023. "Microfinance institutions and female entrepreneurship in Sub-Saharan Africa: avoidable female unemployment thresholds," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 23/018, African Governance and Development Institute..
    7. Asongu, Simplice A. & Agyemang-Mintah, Peter & Nting, Rexon T., 2021. "Law, mobile money drivers and mobile money innovations in developing countries," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    8. Simplice A. Asongu, 2021. "The Effects of Mobile Phone Technology, Knowledge Creation and Diffusion on Inclusive Human Development in Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 12(3), pages 1367-1398, September.
    9. Asongu, Simplice A. & Nnanna, Joseph & Acha-Anyi, Paul N., 2020. "Finance, inequality and inclusive education in Sub-Saharan Africa," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 162-177.
    10. Tchamyou, Vanessa S. & Erreygers, Guido & Cassimon, Danny, 2019. "Inequality, ICT and financial access in Africa," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 169-184.
    11. Simplice A. Asongu & Joseph Nnanna & Paul N. Acha-Anyi, 2020. "Inclusive Education for Inclusive Economic Participation: the Financial Access Channel," Research Africa Network Working Papers 20/019, Research Africa Network (RAN).
    12. Asongu, Simplice A. & Odhiambo, Nicholas M., 2020. "Inequality and gender inclusion: Minimum ICT policy thresholds for promoting female employment in Sub-Saharan Africa," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(4).
    13. Asongu, Simplice A. & Nnanna, Joseph & Acha-Anyi, Paul N., 2020. "Inequality and gender economic inclusion: The moderating role of financial access in Sub-Saharan Africa," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 173-185.
    14. Simplice Asongu, 2023. "Female unemployment and the procedure that a woman has to go through to start a business: microfinance policy thresholds," Social Responsibility Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 20(5), pages 939-955, December.
    15. Simplice A. Asongu & Valentine B. Soumtang & Ofeh M. Edoh, 2021. "Financial institutions, poverty and severity of poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 21/081, African Governance and Development Institute..
    16. Asongu, Simplice A. & Odhiambo, Nicholas M., 2021. "Inequality, finance and renewable energy consumption in Sub-Saharan Africa," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(P1), pages 678-688.
    17. Simplice A. Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2019. "Basic formal education quality, information technology, and inclusive human development in sub‐Saharan Africa," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(3), pages 419-428, May.
    18. Simplice Asongu & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2023. "Enhancing ICT for female economic participation in sub-Saharan Africa," African Journal of Economic and Management Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 15(2), pages 195-223, May.
    19. Simplice A. Asongu & Jacinta C. Nwachukwu & Chris Pyke, 2019. "The Comparative Economics of ICT, Environmental Degradation and Inclusive Human Development in Sub-Saharan Africa," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 143(3), pages 1271-1297, June.
    20. Simplice Asongu & Nicholas Odhiambo, 2022. "The role of mobile characteristics on mobile money innovations," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 56(6), pages 4693-4710, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Mobile phones; financial inclusion; poverty; inequality; Africa;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G20 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - General
    • O40 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General
    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:agd:wpaper:23/046. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Asongu Simplice (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/agdiycm.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.