How Does Adoption of Mobile Money Technology Affect Child Labour and School Enrolment?
Date
2022-10
Authors
Ajefu, Joseph B.
Massacky, Falecia
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
African Economic Research Consortium
Abstract
This paper analyses the impact of adoption of mobile money services on child labour
and educational outcomes in Tanzania using an instrumental variables strategy.
We identify heterogenous impacts across child’s gender and age, and we find a
positive and significant effect of mobile money adoption on educational outcomes,
but the results reveal a negative and significant impact on child labour in the farm
and households. Moreover, using mediation analysis, we identify remittances and
education expenditure as the potential pathways through which mobile money
adoption affects child labour and educational outcomes. Overall, the results suggest
that policies that increase mobile money adoption can be effective in improving child
educational outcomes and lead to a decline in the incidence of child labour.