Welfare Effects of Mobile Money Transfer

Even a small and simple innovation can have a big impact on the life of the most poverty-stricken people. The concept of transferring money using mobile has projected such kind of possibilities in many developing and least developed countries like Bangladesh. A survey conducted in some very remote parts of Bangladesh has uncovered the huge potentials of mobile money transfer to help to improve the welfare status of poor people. The study finds that there are significant positive impacts on welfare such as food consumption health service intake schooling of children savings community safety net etc. Furthermore the study identifies that cost reduction in money transfer processes instant availability of money and as a consequence protection from various sudden shocks and less dependency on non income generating money lending are the major channels to bring the changes in welfare status of dependents of internal migrants in Bangladesh.