The Impact of Mobile Money on Inequality: A Panel Data Analysis

The study explores the impact of mobile money on economic inequality across 145 countries from 2002-2022. Through multilevel analysis, the findings reveal that mobile money transactions are negatively associated with economic inequality in low-income countries. In lower-middle and upper-middle-income countries, the effect remains negative but is not statistically significant. The study also reveals that institutional quality plays a key role: effective governance strengthens mobile money’s impact on inequality, whereas strict legal and anticorruption measures may limit its effects. A quantile analysis shows that mobile money has the largest
impact in countries with moderate levels of inequality. Although the results highlight the potential of mobile money to reduce economic inequality, several factors, such as age, education, standard of living, labour market participation, geographic remoteness, and economic costs, can limit the effects of mobile money.