Report by Ashley B. Simpson, MSc. Teaching and Research Associate

Zack and I are excited to share that our paper, "Bypassing Bribes: Mobile Money and Corruption in Africa," analyzing the relationship between mobile money and petty corruption in Africa, has been published in the Journal of International Development.

Mobile money, a technology that enables people to save, transfer, and make payments via a mobile phone SIM card, has been widely studied for its economic impacts. While research has shown substantial micro- and macroeconomic benefits, its political implications have received far less attention. We attempt to address this gap in the literature by analyzing the relationship between mobile money and petty corruption.

Using Afrobarometer data from over 100,000 individuals across 31 African countries, our study finds that higher levels of national mobile money activity are linked to lower rates of individual bribe payments. We argue that mobile money reduces opportunities for corruption by allowing citizens to bypass intermediaries and increasing the costs of engaging in bribery through greater transparency. Given that African countries have some of the highest rates of mobile money use globally, expanding mobile payment options for public services could serve as a practical policy tool to curb corruption.

We are deeply grateful to our colleagues at the Institute for IPE—Teresa, Jonas, Sidan, and Matthias—for their invaluable support. We also thank Tara Grillos and Lucas Borba for their insightful comments at the SPSA 2025 conference, as well as Ruth Castel-Branco from the Southern Centre for Inequality Studies (SCIS), University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa.

Access the paper here: Bypassing Bribes: Mobile Money and Corruption in Africa - Simpson - 2025 - Journal of International Development - Wiley Online Library

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