Adoption and use of mobile banking by low‐income individuals in Senegal

The wide use of mobile phones increases low‐income individuals’ access to a large range of services. One of these services is mobile banking (m‐banking). Today, m‐banking represents a key vector of financial inclusion in many countries in sub‐Saharan Africa, especially Senegal. Based on technology adoption theories applied to households in developing countries, this paper studies the determinants of the adoption and use of m‐banking. We distinguish between possession or adoption and actual use of m‐banking and examine the interdependence between these two decisions by using the Heckman sample selection model, through a sample of 1,052 individuals in the suburbs of Dakar. Our main results are that the two decisions (adoption and use) are not independent of each other. Individual characteristics, such as education, possession of a bank account, and family network effects, are determinants of the adoption, and age, gender, and being a member of a tontine are determinants of the use. A major result of this study concerns women’s low propensity to adopt m‐banking because of their low levels of education. However, compared with men, when women adopt m‐banking, they have a stronger propensity to use it.     

ICT for financial access: Mobile money and the financial behavior of rural households in Uganda

Mobile money usage has expanded tremendously in Uganda, reaching over 40% of the adult population within 8 years of inception. We use data from 820 rural households to examine the effect of this financial innovation on their financial behavior. We find that using mobile money services increases the likelihood of saving, borrowing, and receiving remittances. The corresponding amounts of each service are also significantly higher among mobile money user households relative to their nonuser counterparts. We demonstrate that the mechanism of this impact is a reduction in transaction costs—a combination of transportation fares and service charges—associated with household proximity to mobile money agents. To illustrate the convenience of service proximity, we demonstrate that the household's likelihood and frequency of using mobile money services reduces with the distance to the nearest mobile money agent. This distance variable is then used to instrument for the potentially endogenous mobile money adoption. We finally perform propensity score matching to reinforce the robustness of our results; our results are consistent across all these specifications. The results imply that developing and enhancing access to and usage of pro‐poor financial products could be a first step to achieving greater financial inclusion.     

Mobile money,risk sharing,and educational investment: Panel evidence from rural Uganda

We examine the impact of the rapidly expanding mobile banking service “mobile money” on rural households' ability to smooth investment in schooling after a negative shock. We find that a negative shock induces a 9.3‐percentage point decrease in per school‐age child educational expenditure for households who do not use mobile money compared to an 8.3‐percentage point decrease for households that have adopted mobile money. The underlying mechanism is an increase in remittance receipt and the diversity of senders owing to the reduction in transactions cost provided by mobile money. We show that our results are robust to alternative mechanisms. We use the expansion in mobile money agent network as an exogenous variation in access to mobile money.     

Critical mass of users versus critical mass of services in a multiproduct information service system

In this paper we study the economic behaviour of the suppliers of a set of advanced telecommunications services with a joint adoption cost (common access facilities, learning process, etc.). In fixing the two-part tariffs for their services the suppliers have to share the burden of leaving to the users a surplus sufficient to cover the adoption cost. The lack of coordination in supplying a critical mass of services or in the pricing decisions has high changes to result in suboptimal or unviable diffusion of the new technology as a whole. We present a static optimization model of user behaviour, and derive access and usage demand with a two-part tariff and a joint adoption cost. We compare noncooperative and cooperative market equilibria in a duopoly with perfect information; finally we discuss the extension of our analysis to the case of imperfect information in a dynamic setting.     

The impact of regulation and competition on the adoption of fiber-based broadband services: recent evidence from the European union member states

Fiber deployment of next-generation high-speed broadband networks is considered to be a decisive development for any information-based society, yet investment activities and especially the adoption of fiber-based broadband services take place only very gradually in most countries. This work employs static and dynamic model specifications and identifies the most important determinants of the adoption of fiber-based broadband services with recent panel data from the European Union member states for the years from 2004 to 2012. The results show that the more effective previous broadband access regulation is, the more negative the impact on adoption, while competitive pressure from mobile networks affects adoption in a non-linear manner. Finally, we also find evidence for substantial network effects underlying the adoption process.     

The Effect of Regulatory and Risk Management Advancement on Non-Performing Loans in European Banking, 2000–2011

We study whether the implementation of advanced risk management techniques in compliance with the internal ratings-based (IRB) approaches in the Basel Capital Accord reduced non-performing loans (NPLs) and, hence, had a significant impact in controlling credit risk in emerging and advanced European banks during 2000–2011. Our analysis reveals that there exists wide variation in terms of adoption of such advanced techniques across European banks. Emerging Europe, which suffered the most from the surge in NPLs in the post-crisis period, lags significantly behind the Eurozone economies in terms of the intensity of IRB adoption rates. We employ dynamic generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation methods in our panel regressions to investigate the effect of such regimes on the level of NPLs on a country level. Our findings confirm that the intensity of IRB usage within a banking system leads to a statistically significant decrease in the aggregate amount of NPLs in the post-crisis period, after controlling for macroeconomic and bank-specific characteristics of individual economies. This result is consistent with the view that the efficiency of credit risk management may turn out to be a critical factor in avoiding widespread banking distress and for improving the profitability and solvency of banking systems as a whole.     

European Banking Distress and EMU: Institutional and Macroeconomic Risks

Financial stability in Europe has received renewed attention with the advent of EMU. This paper examines whether EU country banking systems are particularly vulnerable to systemic risk. Our approach is to explore episodes of banking sector distress for a large sample of countries, highlighting the experience of the EU. We estimate multivariate probit models linking the likelihood of banking problems to a set of macroeconomic variables and institutional characteristics such as aspects of bank supervision and regulation, restrictions on bank portfolios, and development of the banking system. Given these characteristics, the model predicts a low probability of banking sector distress in EMU countries.
JEL classification : G 21; E 44; F 41     

混业经营与金融体系稳定性:基于银行危机的全球实证分析

银行混业经营不仅关系到自身效率的提高,更关系到银行体系乃至整个金融体系的稳定性。对全球范围内61个国家的跨国数据进行的实证分析表明,一个国家对银行混业经营的限制越少,该国的金融体系越趋于稳定,发生银行危机的概率也越小。不仅如此,在宏观经济越不稳定的国家,其一般性银行危机演变为系统性银行危机的概率也越大。     

Banking Market Structure and Macroeconomic Stability: Are Low‐Income Countries Special?

Does the structure of banking markets affect macroeconomic volatility and, if yes, is this link different in low‐income countries? In this paper, we explore the channels through which the structure of banking markets affects macroeconomic volatility. Our research has three main findings. First, we study whether idiosyncratic volatility at the bank level can impact aggregate volatility. We find weak evidence for a link between granular banking sector volatility and macroeconomic fluctuations. Second, a higher share of domestic credit to GDP coincides with higher volatility in the short run. Third, a higher level of cross‐border asset holdings increases volatility in low‐income countries.     

Factors and sustainable strategies fostering the adoption of broadband communications in an enlarged European Union

The paper presents the results of a study that attempts to identify the main components that influence the development of broadband communications and access services, along with the analysis of sustainable strategies for fostering its further development. The paper briefly provides the appropriate combination of the relevant factors, methods and technologies for faster adoption of broadband communication technologies, contributing to adoption and enabling more rapid social cohesion and the regional inclusion of the new member states. Three identified factors, based on the data from 2004, can be interpreted as a group of enablers and means, indicators of e-service usage and the information and communication technology sector environment. An appropriate combination of the proposed actions could be a valuable guide in planning and developing broadband adoption strategies in different European regions or countries.     

Broadband connected employees and labour productivity: a comparative analysis of 14 European countries based on distributed Microdata access

In this study, the association between information and communication technology (ICT) intensity in firms and labour productivity is explored across 14 European countries for the years 2001–2010. ICT intensity is approximated by the proportion of broadband internet-enabled employees, a novel indicator measuring not only adoption but also diffusion within and among firms. Data have been retrieved by means of the distributed microdata approach (DMD) from registers on business, trade and education as well as from surveys on production, ICT usage and innovation activities in firms held at the national statistical offices. This pioneering approach allows access to otherwise confidential linked firm-level information in dimensions not earlier available. Pooled OLS estimations based on approximately 400,000 observations in harmonised and representative datasets show that in a majority of countries there is a significant and positive relationship between the proportion of broadband internet-enabled employees and labour productivity in firms. However, the strength of the relationship varies across countries and industries. Manufacturing firms receive 50% larger estimates than the services firms, while the latter instead experience the positive association more frequently.     

Stabilization of the balance of payments in a small,planned economy,with an application to ethiopia

We construct a macroeconomic model of a planned economy and derive a currency basket that will stabilize the current account. The exchange rate is incorporated in a monetary system so as to derive consistent money and price targets. If the planners have access to foreign loans, they may target a negative current account. The model is estimated for Ethiopia. Having derived weights for the currency basket corresponding to 1980, a simulation is carried out in which macroeconomic targets for 1980 are derived, based on past information.     

The Politics of Shadow Money: Security Structures,Money Creation and Unconventional Central Banking

ABSTRACT

For the first time in the history of central banks, the Federal Reserve has been pursuing monetary policies which allow shadow banks to access its reserves. The paper examines these policies in an analysis based on the concept of security structure. The aim is to facilitate a better understanding of complex institutional arrangements which convert credit claims into money or enable them to simulate the money-form. As the financial crisis reached its peak in September 2008, the Fed was not able to contain the impact precisely because the security structure existing between banks and the Fed did not extend to the shadow banking system, which had meanwhile become thebackbone of the global financial system. To address this situation, the Fed initiated new security structures that were designed to also give players in the shadow banking system access to liquidity and collateral. The concept ‘security structure’ serves as an analytical tool to explore dynamic forms of safety and liquidity generation and to distinguish between credit expansion and money creation. It also helps to differentiate between three qualitatively different stages of security: central bank money, quasi-money and shadow money. In this way, it foregrounds the politics of (shadow) money creation.     

Technology diffusion theory revisited: a regulation,environment, strategy,technology model for technology activation analysis of mobile ICT

Theory on the diffusion of mobile information and communication technology (ICT) is mainly focused on technology diffusion, while prerequisites to such diffusion are largely disregarded or taken for granted. Moreover, few constructs for the assessment of technology diffusion take into account the inherent link between technology and strategy analysis. This study proposes that analysing what comes prior to diffusion and use of technology – here defined as ‘technology activation’ – is equally important, so as to identify external, not user-related determinants that enable or hinder a value proposition based on the new technology. To fill the existing gap and extend technology diffusion theory upstream, the limitations of the technology–organisation–environment model and of other technology diffusion models are reviewed, together with external strategy analysis models, and an original model is proposed to address four macro-determinants that affect technology activation: Regulation, environment, strategy, technology (REST). The REST model is then applied to the Italian mobile location-based services market, to qualitatively validate its comprehensiveness. Conclusions are drawn on the opportunities to extend the mobile technology diffusion analysis process upstream, and to integrate technology analysis with existing research on strategy analysis, thus providing new momentum to mainstream research on innovation diffusion.     

究竟是什么决定了一国银行业的发展

既有文献对银行业发展问题的研究,大多集中于微观层面,基于宏观层面和国家样本的分析相对不足。文章通过对全球范围内具有代表性的59个国家的实证分析,从银行业规模、效率和结构3个基本维度系统考察了决定不同国家银行业整体发展的相关因素。实证结果表明,对银行业整体规模产生显著影响的因素包括宏观经济稳定性、银行业务管制、政府的监管水平、金融开放程度以及社会信用水平;对银行业整体效率产生显著影响的因素包括宏观经济稳定性、良好的制度和管理、银行经营的规模效应、金融体系结构和监管要求;对银行业结构产生显著影响的因素包括银行业总体规模、银行业务管制、银行业开放程度以及银行腐败程度。     

Determinants of the income velocity of money in Portugal: 1891–1998

This paper performs a long-run time series analysis of the behaviour of the income velocity of money in Portugal between 1891 and 1998 by assessing the importance of both macroeconomic and institutional factors and looking for particularities in the Portuguese case. We estimate two cointegration vectors for the income velocity of money, macroeconomic variables and institutional variables. It is apparent that one of these vectors reflects the relationship between income velocity and macroeconomic variables, while the other reflects the relationship between income velocity and institutional variables. Moreover, a regression analysis reveals that the usual U-shaped pattern is displayed with a relatively late inflection point located around 1970, which is consistent with the Spanish case. It is further noted that this is a feature of countries with a late economic and institutional development process.     

Income Inequality and Technology Diffusion: Evidence from Developing Countries*

We study the effect of within‐country income inequality on the diffusion of mobile phones using data on market penetration in a sample of developing countries from 1985 to 1998. Mobile phones are an example of international technology, originating in industrialized countries and diffusing worldwide. We find that income inequality, as measured by the income share of the highest earning deciles, has a positive effect on the early diffusion of mobile phones and that the estimated effect becomes greater when a measure of agricultural endowments is used as an instrument. The instrumental variable results are robust to weak instruments. Our findings suggest that the diffusion of new technologies originating from industrialized countries may generate yet another channel that links inequality and development.     

The impact of competition,and economic globalization on the multinational diffusion of 3G mobile phones

To discover differences in technology diffusion of 3G mobile phones across countries, we investigate the impact of market factors, measured by competitive fractionalization, and economic globalization across countries using a multi-country diffusion model. We incorporate comprehensive socioeconomic and telecommunications data covering 35 geographically and economically diverse countries and control for covariates from literature. We used the Non-linear Mixed Modeling (NLMIXED) approach in SAS with pooled multi-country data to estimate a generalized Bass model taking into account unobserved heterogeneity in market saturation levels, a major source of inter-country differences. Our substantive findings are: the significance of the impact of competitive fractionalization on the likelihood of adoption and on the market potential; the significance of the impact of economic globalization on market growth. Our findings will aid international managers and regulators in their strategy and policy formulations. Finally, we demonstrate model validity by model fit and predictive accuracy.     

Consumption and communication perspectives of IT in a developing economy

Technological innovations are important sources of competitive advantage when there is a balanced rate of adoption that helps organisations maintain or improve performance levels. This paper synthesises and builds on efforts to conceptualise the adoption and implementation of technologically induced customer services in developing countries. Its point of departure is recent advances in computer-mediated marketing environments (CMMEs). It assesses relationships between customer services and evolving technologies in the provision of services in the banking sector. Using phenomenological hermeneutics and a case study approach, we iteratively engaged with data that emerged to identify core values and community-based values. These facets were further developed into seven main issues (core values: quality, education and reach, and community-based values: efficiency, usability, control and security). The paper offers practical steps by which companies and institutions may counter these issues and the theoretical implications for wider considerations are discussed.     

Conventional and Islamic Banks’ Performance in the Gulf Cooperation Council Countries; Efficiency and Determinants

This paper investigates the cost efficiency levels of the banking sectors of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries for the period from 2001 to 2015 and provides a comparison of conventional and Islamic banks. We obtain measures of efficiency using a stochastic frontier model and the meta-frontier approach. The evidence demonstrates that Islamic banks are less efficient and have a weaker level of production technology than conventional banks. The cost efficiency of banks varies significantly across the six Gulf countries and over time. We adopt the results drawn from the meta-frontier model that allow to take into account the differences between the studied countries, and empirically examine the bank-specific, financial, macroeconomic, and political determinants of banking efficiency. The results provide evidence of the differential effects of the selected variables on the efficiency of conventional and Islamic banks. These variables affect the performance of the two types of banks in different ways and with different magnitudes.