Electronic Payment Technology and Business Finance: A Randomized, Controlled Trial with Mobile Money

Abstract

We conducted a randomized, controlled trial with small- and medium-sized enterprises in Kenya to estimate the causal impact of an electronic payment (e-payment) technology on business finance. Using an encouragement design, we exogenously increased e-payment usage among a random subset of firms by relaxing adoption transaction costs and information barriers. Sixteen months after the intervention, we find that the e-payment technology increased access to mobile loans (in the number of loans as well as in the amount borrowed) by at least 50% (0.17 standard deviation), likely because of the reduction of information asymmetries brought by an increase in digital transactions. We find no effect of the e-payment technology on sales and profits, but we do find a reduction of sales volatility and precautionary investment, especially for smaller firms. This suggests that mobile loans help smaller firms cope with short-term negative shocks. We provide a stylized model of business finance that rationalizes these findings. This paper was accepted by Bruno Biais, finance. Funding: This paper was produced under the framework of the “Enabling Innovation and Productivity Growth in Low Income Countries (EIP-LIC/PO5639)” project, funded by the Department for International Development (DFID) of the United Kingdom and implemented by Tilburg University. Supplemental Material: The data files and online appendix are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2023.4821 .