NBER-移动支付、互操作性和金融包容性.docx

NBERWORKINGPAPERSERIESMOBI1.EMONEY,INTEROPERABI1.ITY,ANDFINANCIA1.INC1.USIONMarkusK.BrunnermeierNicola1.imodio1.orenzoSpadavecchiaWorkingPaper31696NATIONA1.BUREAUOFECONOMICRESEARCH1050MassachusettsAvenueCambridge,MA02138September2023ThispaperhasbenefittedfromdiscussionswithandthesuggestionsofJosephAbadi,JennyAker,FrancisAnnan,AndrewAtkeson,TaniaBabina,OrianaBandiera,Jean-PierreBenoit,MiloBianchi,MatthieuBouvard,EmilyBreza,KonradBurchardi,DanielTimothyChen,JonathandeQuidt,MitchellDowney,JoshuaGans,AlessandroGavazza,Jean-Pierre1.andau,RoccoMacchiavello,CesaireMeh,NikitaMelnikov,SteliosMichalopoulos,DonNoh,EliasPapaioannou,PaoloPinotti,HeleneRey,EmmaRiley,NicolasSerrano-Velarde,TavneetSuri,TommasoVallettiandseminarparticipantsatBocconiUniversity,CornellUniversity-CharlesH.DysonSchool,HalleInstituteforEconomicResearch,InstituteforInternationalEconomicStudies,1.ondonBusinessSchool,OxfordUniversity-SaidBusinessSchool,NBERSI2023DigitalEconomicsandAI,2ndWEFIDEVCEPRWorkshopinFinanceandDevelopment,46thBREAD&MITConferenceandotherconferences,seminarsandworkshops.EdoardoCattaneo,CamillaCherubini,IlariaDalBarco,DanieleGoffi,FalilouKebe,HannahMorenoandBeatriceRomagnoloprovidedexcellentresearchassistance.Allerrorsareourown.TheviewsexpressedhereinarethoseoftheauthorsanddonotnecessarilyreflecttheviewsoftheNationalBureauofEconomicResearch.Atleastoneco-authorhasdisclosedadditionalrelationshipsofpotentialrelevanceforthisresearch.FurtherinformationisavailableonlineatNBERworkingpapersarecirculatedfordiscussionandcommentpurposes.Theyhavenotbeenpeer-reviewedorbeensubjecttothereviewbytheNBERBoardofDirectorsthataccompaniesofficialNBERpublications.©2023byMarkusK.Brunnermeier,Nicola1.imodio,and1.orenzoSpadavecchia.Allrightsreserved.Shortsectionsoftext,nottoexceedtwoparagraphs,maybequotedwithoutexplicitpermissionprovidedthatfullcredit,including©notice,isgiventothesource.MobileMoney,Interoperability,andFinancialInclusionMarkusK.Brunnermeier,Nicola1.imodio,and1.orenzoSpadavecchiaNBERWorkingPaperNo.31696September2023JE1.No.E4,016,030ABSTRACTThispaperinvestigatesthetradeoffbetweencompetitionandfinancialinclusionresultingfromtheverticalintegrationbetweenmobilenetworkandmoneyoperators.JoiningnewlyassembleddataonmobilemoneyfeesthroughtheWayBackmachine,withsourcesonnetworkcoverageandfinancials,weexaminethestaggeringacrossAfricanoperatorsandcountriesofplatforminteroperability-apolicythatpromotestransactionsandcompetitionacrossmobilemoneyoperators.Ourresultsshowthatinteroperabilitybenefitsusersbyloweringmobilemoneyfeesandtheirdispersionacrossoperators.However,thesepositiveeffectsareoffsetbyadecreaseinmobiletowersandnetworkcoverage,especiallyinruralandpoordistricts,which,inturn,leadstoalowerfinancialinclusion.Wenotethatcombininginteroperabilitywithsubsidiesforruraltelecommunicationsdeliverslowerfeeswithouthurtingcoverage.1.orenzoSpadavecchiaBocconiUniversityVialeBligny,12Milan20139Italylorenzo.spadavecchiaunibocconi.itMarkusK.BrunnenneierPrincetonUniversityDepartmentofEconomicsBendheimCenterforFinancePrinceton,NJ08544andCEPRandalsoNBERmarkusprinceton.eduNicola1.imodioBocconiUniversityViaRoentgen,1Milan20136Italynicola.limodio1 IntroductionMobilemoneyhasemergedasoneofthemostwidespreaddigitalpaymentsystems(Demirguc-Kuntetal.,2018).Itsdiffusionresultedintangiblechangesinvariouseconomicandfinancialindicatorslikerisk-sharing(JackandSuri(2011);Blumenstocketal.(2016),remittances(Riley(2018);Akeretal.(2020),lending(Surietal.,2021)andsavings(Brezaetal.,2022),amongothers.Despitethesesignificantdevelopments,researchonthefunctioningandregulationofthecorrespondingfinancialinstitution,themobilemoneycompany,remainslimited.Thispaperinvestigatestheroleofcompetitiononthebehaviourofmobilemoneycompaniesanditscorrespondingeffectsonfinancialinclusion.Specifically,Weexaminetheeffectsofacompetition-promotingpolicy,platforminteroperability,whichfacilitatestransactionsbetweenusersofdifferentmobilemoneyoperators.Bymitigatingthebarrierstoexchangepayments,thisregulatoryinterventioncanimpacttheprofitmarginsofmobilemoneyoperatorsandinfluencetheirpricing,network,andinfrastructureinvestment.Ourpaperproposesconceptuallyandexploresempiricallyanoveltradeoffbetweencompetitionandfinancialinclusioninthecontextofmobilemoney.Itiscrucialfirsttointroducethetypicalstructureofthismarket,whichcomprisestwomainplayers:mobilenetworkcompaniesthatofferphoneandinternetservices;andmobilemoneycompaniesthatfocusonpaymentexchanges.Typically,thesetwoactorsareverticallyintegratedasdiscussedbyBourreauandValletti(2015),whichcreatesalimitedcompetitiveenvironment(Williamson(1979);GrossmanandHart(1986);Hartetal.(1990)andresultsinhigherfeeschargedtomobilemoneyusers.Atthesametime,thislackofcompetitionmayalsoprovideincentivesformobilenetworkcompaniestoextendtheirreachtounderservedlocations,enhancingfinancialinclusion.Consequently,lowlevelsofcompetitionmayincreasethesizeofthemobilenetwork,whichmaybelabelledastheextensivemargino