One of the issues we follow closely at FAI is the rapidly expanding use of mobile money in the developing world. As Jean Lee recently noted, a growing body of research on mobile money has a lot to say about its potential to smooth risks and facilitate transfer programs.
In the interest of keeping a finger on the pulse of the latest results from the field, FAI's Managing Director Timothy Ogden and Deputy Managing Director Laura Freschi recently attended IMTFI's Fifth Annual Conference for Funded Researchers. This two-day event highlights research projects that look at on the ground, traditional money systems and financial practices, as well as the potential and real impact of new technology in providing access to finance for the world's poor. This includes everything from challenges with take-up of loyalty-based life insurance in Kenya to behavioral analysis of mobile money users in India.
Click here for a complete list of presentations and visit IMTFI's blog for highlights from the conference.
Ten years ago, FAI managing director Tim Ogden published Experimental Conversations, a collection of interviews with economists and other people who critique, promote, and use randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in development economics. One of the interviewees was Michael Kremer, a pioneer of the movement, now a Nobel laureate, and recently appointed Chief Economist of the World Bank.