The effect of financial education on mobile money use: Evidence from a field experiment in Western Uganda

Last registered on September 17, 2020
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
The effect of financial education on mobile money use: Evidence from a field experiment in Western Uganda
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0006407
Initial registration date
September 15, 2020

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
September 17, 2020, 8:10 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Country
Uganda
Region
Kabarole

Primary Investigator

Name
Tim Kaiser
Affiliation
University of Koblenz-Landau
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Lukas Menkhoff
PI Affiliation
DIW Berlin
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Additional Trial Information

Status
On going
Start date
2019-02-01
End date
2021-03-31
Keywords
Behavior, Education, Finance & Microfinance
Additional Keywords
Financial literacy, mobile money, financial behavior, small scale entrepreneurs
JEL code(s)
G53, I21
Secondary IDs
Abstract
Digital financial services such as Mobile Money have the potential to contribute to financial inclusion of many small-scale business owners in low-income countries. However, limited financial literacy among small-scale entrepreneurs may constrain the understanding of costs and benefits of these kinds of financial services. The field experiment studies the impact of a financial education intervention randomly offered to small-scale entrepreneurs in trading centers in Western Uganda on take-up and usage patterns of digital payment services (e.g., mobile money) and other household and small-scale business financial behaviors (such as savings, investments, and credit). The treatments are randomized at the trading-center-level. Additionally, the treatment intensity (share of entrepreneurs invited) is randomly varied within trading-centers to study the extent of information spillovers and other potential externalities. Outcomes are measured in hypothetical choice experiments and using (self-reported) survey data. D
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Kaiser, Tim and Lukas Menkhoff. 2020. "The effect of financial education on mobile money use: Evidence from a field experiment in Western Uganda." AEA RCT Registry. September 17. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.6407-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Financial literacy education program addressing personal and small business financial management and planning within five content areas: (i) Budgeting and record keeping, (ii) Savings, (iii) Debt management, (iv) Investment, (v) Money transfer
Intervention Start Date
2019-08-21
Intervention End Date
2019-09-09

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Mobile money usage (self-reported), Interaction terms between the treatment and experimentally varied factors (e.g., prices and transfer amounts) in a factorial survey experiment on hypothetical mobile money transfer choices
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Any savings (binary), total savings (ln), formal savings (binary and logged amount), any debt (binary), total (ln), formal credit (binary), record keeping (binary), keeping seperate records for business and household (binary), Total investments into own business (ln)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Cluster-randomized field experiment in 108 trading centers in the Kabarole district (Western Uganda). 54 clusters are allocated to the control group (no intervention) and 54 clusters are allocated to the treatment group (individuals within clusters are offered a free financial education program). Among the 54 treated clusters, we experimentally vary the treatment intensity with probability 1/3 (i.e., the share of the entrepreneurs within clusters invited to attend the session) in order to enable the identification of knowledge spillovers or other externalities: In 18 clusters we invite 100% of the individuals, in another 18 clusters we invite 75% of the individuals, and in the remaining 18 clusters we invite 50% of the individuals in the cluster. Outcomes (end points) are measured in a phone survey (due to Covid-19 travel restrictions). Respondents will receive a cash amount at the end of the survey and can choose whether to receive the amount via mobile money or as an airtime transfer.
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
Randomization in stata
Randomization Unit
Cluster-level randomization (see experimental design above)
Was the treatment clustered?
Yes

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
108 Trading Centers (TC)
Sample size: planned number of observations
2231 individuals (small-scale business owners)
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
54 TC treated, 54 TC control
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
80 percent power to detect a standardized mean difference between treatment and control of 0.2 SD (at alpha=0.05 and an assumed ICC of 0.06)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number
Analysis Plan

Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials