TY - RPRT AU - Batista, Catia AU - Vicente, Pedro C. TI - Adopting Mobile Money: Evidence from an Experiment in Rural Africa PY - 2020/Jan/ PB - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) CY - Bonn T2 - IZA Discussion Paper IS - 12934 UR - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp12934 AB - Who uses mobile money? What is mobile money used for? This paper describes the mobile money adoption patterns following the experimental introduction of mobile money for the first time in rural areas of Southern Mozambique. We use a combination of administrative and household survey data to characterize early and late adopters, as well as their mobile money usage patterns during the three years after mobile money was introduced. We find that a large proportion of the individuals who were offered mobile money services actively adopted this technology. Adopters of mobile money (and early adopters in particular) are more educated than non-adopters, and they are also more likely to already hold a bank account. Positive self-selection of mobile money adopters raises questions about the effectiveness of mobile money as a tool for financial inclusion. KW - mobile money KW - technology adoption KW - self-selection KW - financial inclusion KW - financial deepening KW - fintech KW - Mozambique KW - Africa ER -