Local Ambassadors Promote Mobile Banking in Northern Peru
49 Pages Posted: 15 May 2020 Last revised: 13 Jul 2020
Date Written: May 14, 2020
Abstract
We experiment with a novel way to boost information acquisition that exploits existing social ties between the promoter of a new financial technology and community members. We offer information and training workshops on a new mobile-money platform in peri-urban and rural areas in Peru. In the treatment group, workshops are led by promoters who are personally known to the invited participants. In the control group, comparable individuals are invited to attend similar workshops, but the workshops are led by agents external to the community. Our findings suggest that lack of information impedes product adoption, which is itself limited by lack of trust in the individual who provides the information.
Keywords: Financial inclusion, social networks, information transmission, trust
JEL Classification: D91, G23, I22, I31, O33
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation