A1 Journal article (refereed)
Mobile money and the impact of mobile phone regulatory enforcement among the urban poor in Tanzania (2021)
Stark, L. (2021). Mobile money and the impact of mobile phone regulatory enforcement among the urban poor in Tanzania. Human Technology, 17(1), 22-44. https://doi.org/10.17011/ht/urn.202106223977
JYU authors or editors
Publication details
All authors or editors: Stark, Laura
Journal or series: Human Technology
ISSN: 1795-6889
eISSN: 1795-6889
Publication year: 2021
Volume: 17
Issue number: 1
Pages range: 22-44
Publisher: Jyväskylän Yliopisto
Place of Publication: Jyväskylä
Publication country: Finland
Publication language: English
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17011/ht/urn.202106223977
Persistent website address: https://ht.csr-pub.eu/index.php/ht/article/view/239
Publication open access: Openly available
Publication channel open access: Open Access channel
Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/76848
Abstract
Mobile money provides a tool for survival, particularly in urban conditions shaped by city regulations that make microvending difficult for the poor. An analysis of 165 interviews conducted in two low-income neighborhoods in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania over 8 years demonstrates how interlocked layers of technology and interaction make mobile money services semiformal. I introduce two mobile money-enabled survival strategies: intrahousehold transfers for day-to-day survival (transfers within the same city) and resource safeguarding through kin remittances of start-up capital (home-based subsistence business capital stored for kin access in emergencies). The recent tightening of mobile phone regulations in the global South has disrupted users’ multilevel and formal/informal-hybrid infrastructures of money movement in these communities. Such tougher regulations could result in a new digital divide that hinders rather than facilitates the financial inclusion of the poor.
Keywords: developing countries; towns and cities; poverty; cell phones; mobile payment; electronic money; transfer of money; coping; legislation; income differences; national economy
Free keywords: Africa; financial inclusion
Contributing organizations
Ministry reporting: Yes
Reporting Year: 2021
JUFO rating: 1
