(African Economic Research Consortium, 2021-08) Barasa, Laura
Using a two-period panel comprising firm-level data from the 2007 and 2013
World Bank Enterprise Surveys, this paper investigates the impact of mobile
money use on bribe payments in Kenya. Results based on a matched difference in-differences estimator demonstrate that adopting mobile money for financial
transactions leads to a 3.1 percentage point reduction in bribe payments. This
can be explained considering that mobile money transactions leave behind a
detailed trail of digital records and accounts, which may curb acts of bribery.
Our findings suggest that official mobile money payments can be a practical
and effective anti-corruption intervention.