Mobile money and intra-household employment diversification: Empirical evidence from Ghana

Abstract

This study investigates the effect of mobile money on intra-household employment diversification in Ghana using data from the seventh round of the Ghana Living Standards Surveys. The study relies on several econometric models including instrumental variables and shows that mobile money has a statistically significant and positive effect on the probability to diversify employment irrespective of whether diversification is measured across paid employment, household farm and household nonfarm activities or across agriculture, industry and services sectors. Additionally, it was found that mobile money positively affects the extent of employment diversification across paid employment, farm and nonfarm activities. These effects, however, largely pertain to rural communities with null effects for urban communities. A statistically significant and positive effects are found for both male and female headed households although the magnitude of the effect generally tend be slightly higher for male headed households. The findings suggest that policies that promote mobile money adoption and usage can deepen employment diversification, and hence, may help protect or improve household welfare, particularly in rural areas. The study therefore makes a significant contribution on mobile money’s impact on household diversification and whether the impact varies by the forms of diversification, gender and locality of residence.