IED Seminar Speaker Series with Professor Jenny Aker

Join us for a seminar jointly organized by the Institute for Economic Development and the Global Development Policy Center presented by Professor Jenny Aker on "If you build it, will they come? Incentivizing the Adoption of Digital Financial Services"

Additionally, registrations are open for office hours or meals with Professor Aker. Contact khuskins@bu.edu to sign-up for office hours or a meal.

About Professor Jenny Aker: Jenny Aker is the Daniel G. Sisler Professor of Development Economics at Cornell University. She studies economic development in Africa, with a primary focus on the impact of information, and information technology, on development outcomes, including agricultural markets, adult education and financial inclusion and agricultural technology adoption.. Outside of Cornell, she is the co-Chair of the Digital Identification and Finance Initiative in Africa Initiative at J-PAL Africa.

Abstract: Despite the potential impacts of digital financial services (DFS) on household welfare, adoption rates remain low in some of the world's poorest countries. A key question is whether households face behavioral, information or network frictions that marginal incentives can overcome, and how these interact with uneven supply. To investigate this, we implemented a randomized controlled trial in Niger to estimate the effect of information provision and a two-sided financial incentive on DFS adoption, transfers and welfare. We further integrate spatial data on DFS and substitute agent networks to assess the role of supply-side constraints on adoption. The results indicate that relaxing information asymmetries increases awareness but does not shift adoption behavior, consistent with models in which information is a necessary but not sufficient condition for technology diffusion. By contrast, a modest two-sided financial transfer acts as a salient incentive, generating a statistically significant increase in both adoption and usage in the short- and medium-term, and allowing households to save and meet medical expenses. We develop a model of learning by doing and network effects to test the mechanisms behind these results. Overall, we find that network externalities seem to be the binding impediment to diffusion.

Zoom Meeting ID: 988 0297 5691 Zoom Passcode: 330578