http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification 720 https://escholarship.org/uc/imtfi_workp/rss Recent eScholarship items from Working Papers Fri, 15 May 2026 09:14:09 +0000 https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9dk4p7z1 There is by now ample evidence that the poor lack access to basic financial services. It is, therefore, no surprise that financial inclusion has become a focus of attention for development professionals seeking to alleviate poverty around the world. However, the nature of poverty and deprivation, the livelihood, and the financial needs of the poor vary widely across different contexts. In India, for instance, the financial needs and practices of the poor differ across rural and urban areas. An in-depth understanding of the financial behavior of the rural and urban poor is essential for designing the right product-mix that addresses their needs. Our study contributes to this goal by examining how the rural and urban poor in the state of Tamil Nadu, India, manage their money. We adopted the “Q-squared” methodology (combining quantitative and qualitative methods) to gain a holistic understanding of the financial behavior of these two distinct populations. We used financial diaries... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/9dk4p7z1 Thu, 3 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000 Kumar, Lakshmi Mukhopadhyay, Jyoti Prasad https://escholarship.org/uc/item/86c3w1nx In the retail industry, consumer credit is sometimes seen as a dangerous parasite that can become bigger than its host. Credit cards are marketing devices that aim at easing the attachment between consumers and goods. Credit cards are also value meters that trace every single transaction. Credit cards can even be “gardening” tools. Sowing is the name used in Chile’s retail industry to call the data management strategy that consists of extending the credit limit of low income customers depending on their payment behavior. Data on previous transactions and behavior replaces collateral. Credit cards are not only used by the persons whose names are on the cards; People borrow and loan their cards, or, more precisely, their cards’ credit limits. Credit cards do not trace behavior but hidden networks. Can social relations act as parasites on credit – uninvited guests whose host is already a parasite? This article tells the story of a study that started in the middle – credit cards –... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/86c3w1nx Thu, 3 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000 Ossandón, José https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7pv9274m With support from the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD), Vinya wa Aka Group (VwAG), a women’s group from the Eastern part of Kenya, has trained 21 women’s groups, in seven rural districts of the Province, on issues related to investment, savings, money services and management. As part of that training, each group outlined a strategy for resource mobilization, savings and investment with the aim of reducing poverty within their families and communities. To build on the initial VwAG training, the primary goal of this research study was to investigate the use and impact of mobile money services (e.g. M-PESA, YU and Zap), among the 21 women’s groups, as a tool for poverty reduction in Eastern Kenya. The methodology included in-depth interviews, focus group discussion, participatory observations, review of secondary data and a dissemination workshop, which will be the focus of this working paper. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7pv9274m Thu, 3 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000 Kiiti, Ndunge Mutinda, Jane https://escholarship.org/uc/item/50h2j50c Almost all the micro-finance institutions (MFIs) in Kenya have introduced mobile money to increase the convenience and speed of transactions, and to lower the cost of transferring funds. Since most MFIs had already established their brick-and-mortar operations, mobile money only complements their traditional approaches to serving their clients. Musoni, a relatively new MFI, provides micro-finance purely through mobile technology. This cashless model eliminates some administrative costs and makes transactions efficient for both the customers and the MFI. The uptake has been impressive and the model is believed to help reduce client groups’ meeting frequency, leaving customers more time for business and increasing customer loyalty. The researchers proposed to establish preliminary evidence of the impact of pure mobile money on the consumers of Musoni services. The qualitative data was collected through focus group discussions and in-depth interviews while quantitative data was collected... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/50h2j50c Thu, 3 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000 Omwansa, Tonny Waema, Timothy https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3zw80518 With mobile money technologies, people use mobile phones to send money to friends and relatives, connect to bank accounts, and make payments. This research examines the role of mobile money in Kenyans’ social and economic networks. Research reported was conducted in Bungoma and Trans-Nzoia Counties in Kenya, and among Kenyans living in Chicago, Illinois in the summer of 2012.Although mobile money services are often described as a form of “banking,” most users in Western Kenya use mobile money as a social and economic tool through which they create relationships by sending money and airtime gifts. A wide range of mobile money uses includes social gifting, assisting friends and relatives, organizing savings groups, and contributing to ceremonies and rituals.Even though mobile money was designed for person-to-person transfers, its practices are best understood as created by collectivities and groups. In savings groups, groups of siblings and other relatives, and communities who contribute... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3zw80518 Thu, 3 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000 Kusimba, Sibel Chaggar, Harpieth Gross, Elizabeth Kunyu, Gabriel https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3pq2w9x8 The article focuses on the frameworks of calculation and margins of calculability accessed by indigenous families in their financial practices. In a region that is considered one of the poorest in Mexico and still largely based on a “milpa system”, barter and the “reciprocal hand,” the indigenous way of life is facing important changes. We argue that arithmetic is signified in the light of beliefs, fears and hopes in the struggles for certainty and adaptation and negotiations with modernity. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3pq2w9x8 Thu, 3 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000 Villareal, Magdalena Santana, María Eugenia https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3nm7w9ch The important role that small ruminants’ husbandry play in the lives of women in rural Nigeria cannot be overemphasised. This is attributable to the income generating potential of these animals as it forms a major source of credit that is easily accessible to these women in meeting immediate and urgent financial needs. Findings from our study in southwest Nigeria indicated that about 68 percent of women in the study area utilised part of the income generated from small ruminants’ rearing to meet the welfare needs of their members and settle unforeseen financial demands such as paying hospital bills (10.4 percent) and assisting relations in emergency situations (7.8 percent). However, the most preferred of the small ruminants is goat because its consumption and marketability has no religious or cultural restrictions and the least preferred is swine. Meanwhile, because education and poverty status of respondents were found to be important determinants of income realised from small... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3nm7w9ch Thu, 3 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000 Oluwatayo, Isaac B. Oluwatayo, Titilayo B. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2hk490d2 This study provides insights into the ancient susu savings operation in Ghana and the behavioral intention or willingness of susu collectors and users to adopt a mobile money (MM) platform as part of their savings practices. More specifically, this study investigates factors that determine one’s intention to adopt the MM space as a savings channel, particularly in place of more traditional ways of saving among many people in West Africa. The study reports many interesting findings but one that is striking is the physical presence of the susu collector, which was found to be statistically significant but having a negative influence on one’s behavioral intention to accept MM. This, which was found to be the primary reason motivating susu users to honor their savings commitment, is potentially an important factor in explaining why respondents were not sure whether an MM platform would be an effective method of saving. While MM uptake remains significantly low, the study findings... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2hk490d2 Thu, 3 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000 Osei-Assibey, Eric https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2c39352p We combine the perspectives of the anthropology and sociology of money with user-centred design to explore how the use of cash in rural and remote Papua New Guinea will shape the use of mobile money. Drawing on 13 open-ended interviews, group interviews involving 100 persons, and participant observation over two visits to Morobe province in 2010 and 2011, we found cash is used for school fees, mobile phones, household goods, transport, beer, cards, women and gifting to wantok, that is, people connected by descent or place. Cash is individually controlled and women’s savings are often hidden in pandanus walls or locked cupboards. Women control cash from gardens and the re-selling of betel nuts and cigarettes. Men take the larger share of cash from coffee and control the ‘big money’ from mining. Mobile money, if appropriately designed, can reinforce the privacy and security of cash and savings, facilitate gifting to wantok, and lead to greater financial inclusion of women. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2c39352p Thu, 3 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000 Singh, Supriya Nadarajah, Yaso https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1xx9m703 Most studies of mobile money for the poor focus narrowly on questions of technical design and  pay little attention to the various needs of the poor and their complex relationships with money and financial services.  In order to fill the current knowledge gap and to better inform the design of new mobile money systems for the purpose of financial inclusion, this study investigates social relationships and payment practices among the poor in rural Ethiopia. A study of existing payment practices in Ethiopia is pertinent especially given the recent proliferation of various mobile money initiatives. Two key questions face mobile money professionals and scholars of financial inclusion alike: How will these mobile money initiatives reach out to the local population? How will they incorporate existing (albeit unbanked) financial practices? This paper aims to lay the ground for designing mobile money products and services that cater to local institutions and practices. The paper,... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1xx9m703 Thu, 3 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000 Woldmariam, Mesfin F. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1x60s8tj In 2011, sixty-five percent of India’s population did not have access to a bank account (Global Findex 2011). India has the second largest financially excluded poor in the world with more than half of its population considered as financially underserved At the same time, India is one of the fastest growing markets for mobile phones. Given the rising mobile phone usage in the country, M-Banking has a great potential for enabling financial inclusion of the poor. India has attained near universal telecom access with one of the lowest–cost retail distribution networks. Among the myriad M-banking services currently underway, EKO’s Simplibank offers one of the most promising initiatives in mobile money operating on a low-cost banking platform. Launched in 2007 through a partnership between the start-up company EKO and the State Bank of India (SBI), this mobile money service initially operated as a pilot project in the cities of Delhi, Bihar and Jharkhand. By 2011, EKO had captured a... https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1x60s8tj Thu, 3 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000 Nandhi, Mani A. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1jq7p7qh This paper explores modernity and gender in a traditional society, focusing on the informal storing of money among indigenous populations in the Philippines, through 69 semi-structured interviews and observations. In these indigenous populations – Bontoc, Tagbanua and Higaonon – traditional forms of money are utilized side by side the modern form depending on the type of transaction. Money storage patterns differ by gender, arising from varying comfort zones, spending frequency, and amount of money stored. Modernity reworks traditional gender relations between spouses where money becomes a source of conflict, as they maintain tradition and absorb modern ideas of individuality and empowerment. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/1jq7p7qh Thu, 3 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000 Arnado, Mary Janet M https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0bt109nm This paper examines the various practices used to achieve income and consumption smoothing amongst the poorest households in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. It looks at selected 125 households, representing 25 households in each of the five regions of the Yogyakarta area. It designated how rural financial institution and other can help them to have better smoothing strategy. We found that the behaviour varies in response to the types of profession and gender. Furthermore, the source of the income fluctuation also matters in determining households’ responses. However, the source of the consumption fluctuation did not appear to differ across professions. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/0bt109nm Thu, 3 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000 Sugiyanto, Catur Kusumastuti, Sri Yani Donna, Duddy Roesmara https://escholarship.org/uc/item/08b388nk This study is an ethnographic account of the Shia population attached to Zardozi (embroidery) in Lucknow, who are reeling under intense poverty and suffering as a result of pittance. This study contributes to the linking of micro levels of analysis of money management through informal financial network of Rotating Services and Credit Association (ROSCA), popularly known as Beesi, among the poor skilled Zardozi (embroidery) workers in Lucknow. The research facilitates verbatim accounts of embroidery workers about what they want, what they expect of themselves and how they make their choices that they can make. The study is open to a wide spectrum of readers belonging to developmental studies, economics and microfinance who are interested in understanding real life situations confronted by the poor in third world countries. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/08b388nk Thu, 3 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000 Raza, Aiman Syed