AERC Working Paper Series 2025

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https://publication.aercafricalibrary.org/handle/123456789/3979

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The Effect of Mobile Money on Financial Inclusion in Mozambique
(AERC, 2025) Ponguane, Sérgio
Financial inclusion is widely considered an important tool to ensure sustainable economic growth and alleviate poverty and inequality. However, financial inclusion in Mozambique is low compared to other African countries. The revolution of ICT and financial technologies, including mobile money is a breakthrough in financial inclusion. This study aimed to analyse the effect of mobile money on financial inclusion in Mozambique using the 2021 Global Findex data. Treatment Effect Model and Propensity Score Matching techniques were used to address the research questions. Findings suggest that mobile money positively affects savings and borrowing. However, the determinants of mobile money adoption and barriers are similar to those of conventional banking. This means that mobile money is more likely to benefit individuals who are already financially included. Therefore, inclusive financial strategies will require that access points expansion is combined with initiatives that improve household income and financial literacy.
Effect of Landownership by Women on Household Food Security in Benin
(AERC, 2025) TOSSOU, Judith Urielle
Given the extent of food insecurity among rural women and gender inequalities linked to land rights, this research examines the effect of women's land ownership on household food security in Benin. The data comes from the Global Analysis of Vulnerability and Food Security survey (AGVSA, 2017). The propensity score matching (PSM) method and endogenous switching regression are applied to a sample of approximately 6502 households, of which 21% (1366) of agricultural households included female landowners. The results estimated using the (ESR) method and the (PSM) method reveal a positive and significant effect of women's land ownership on household food security. Following the ESR and PSM method; the results reveal that the factors that significantly influence women's land ownership are age, household size, agricultural empowerment index, access to credit, and levels of "primary" and "at least" education. less secondary” and the household’s housing status. Following the ESR method, the effect of transient heterogeneity is positive; which implies that the effect of land ownership on the food security index is significantly higher for women who have land than for those who do not. The potential effect of heterogeneity in the sample reveals that women who have land property would have a higher positive food security index than women who do not have it. The results indicate the very important role of land ownership by women in resolving food insecurity in rural Benin. Given our results and to improve the level of household food security in Africa and more precisely in Benin, political decision-makers will have to favor and encourage many women to acquire not only land but also large areas of land through applicable policies and reforms. Then, political decision-makers must also put in place communication systems to encourage more women's access to agricultural inputs and the practice of irrigation. Finally, decision-makers must increase access to credit for women.
Electricity Shortage and Productivity: Why Do Some Firms Thrive in a Poor Business Environment while others are Unable?
(AERC, 2025) Seukou, Yvette Djoha; Nourou, Mohammadou; Fokou, Carrel
Although the relationship between unreliable electric power costs and firm productivity has received considerable attention from researchers, few studies have asked why some firms succeed in an unreliable electric power environment while others are unable to. To achieve the study's purpose, the paper compares the World Bank Enterprise survey’s unbalanced panel data over two periods: 2006-2014 and 2008-2023. Additionally, it uses the "k-means clustering" algorithm to rank clusters of sub-Saharan African firms that share similar electricity shortages experience, adaptation strategies and productivity profiles. The multinomial probit model is used to determine the success factors of firms operating in an unfavorable environment, at firm and industry level over time. We find that there are three categories of firms operating under the constraints of power shortages: “heavily impacted firms”, partially impacted firms”, and “resilient firms”. Strong institutions reduce the probability of belonging to the group of firms that are “heavily impacted” by electricity shortages. In contrast, the probability of belonging to the “resilient” group of firms increases with gross domestic product. When we look at the influence of entrepreneurs' perception of certain obstacles in the business environment (electricity shortage and the informal sector) on cluster membership, we find that, for both grouped and period data, the perception of electricity shortage and the informal sector as a major obstacle in the business environment also explain cluster membership.
Effects of Financial Inclusion on Tax Revenue Mobilization : Evidence from WAEMU Countries
(AERC, 2025) Chebochok, Milly Chepkorir; Bayale, Nimonka
Financial inclusion remains at the heart of government concerns. By creating favorable conditions for access to a diversified range of adapted financial products and services at affordable costs for the population, financial inclusion generates important opportunities that could lead to increased tax revenue mobilization. This paper analyzes the effects of financial inclusion on tax revenue mobilization, using panel data from West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) countries over the period 2006-2019. The findings suggest that financial inclusion positively and significantly influences the government's tax revenue. For example, an increase in one point of the financial inclusion index corresponds to an increase in total tax revenues by 0.63 points. Moreover, by looking at the effects of disaggregated financial inclusion dimensions (access, use, and affordability) on various components of tax revenue, we find that the estimated coefficients on the sub-components of financial inclusion are statistically significant. Results also indicate the magnitude of the effect of financial inclusion is higher on indirect taxes compared to direct tax revenues. This research recommends that policymakers should prioritize financial inclusion in their policies and development agenda through National Financial Inclusion Strategies (NFIS) because it can increase countries’ resource mobilization and help them build fiscal resilience.
The Role of Mobile Money on Household Food Security During Drought Shocks: An Evaluation of Key Pathways
(AERC, 2025) Abiona, Olukorede
This paper investigates the interaction between mobile money use and exposure to drought events among smallholder farmers in rural Tanzania. We examine the impact of drought on household food security for mobile money adopters relative to non-adopters. To investigate this pattern, we use household and agricultural datasets from the Tanzanian National Panel surveys (TNPS) between 2010 and 2020 in a difference-in-difference framework. Our findings demonstrate an added advantage of drought-mitigating strategies for adopter households by way of strategic farm inputs to improve yields as pathways. This paper contributes to the literature by building unique empirical evidence relating to innovative behaviours from mobile money adoption to support agricultural investment for sustainable household food security over a long-term period. Access to credits is revealed as the channel of transmission.

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