From expanding financial services to tackling poverty in West African Economic and Monetary Union: The accelerating role of mobile money

Abstract

Abstract This paper aims to assess the accelerating role of digital technology in fighting poverty through financial inclusion in the countries of West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU). Based on a sample of the adult population from the World Bank's Findex database, we estimate a recursive bivariate probit model that addresses endogeneity. The findings show that the regular usage of mobile money as well as the purpose of mobile money usage including saving, borrowing, remittance and their combinations increase diversely and significantly the probability of short‐term poverty alleviation in WAEMU. In addition, the change in poverty status can be indirectly due to certain driving factors of mobile money usage including mainly the ownership of mobile phones.