Essays on financial, transportation and savings investment technologies

Abstract

This thesis investigates the impact and adoption of three types of technologies mobile money, a leading financial technology in Kenya, the colonial railway, an important transportation technology in Nigeria, and two prevalent savings investment technologies for the provision of retirement income: inter-generational transfers (pay-as- you-go systems) and capital markets investments. Access to mobile money services is shown to have a significant impact on economic activity. Areas with access to mobile money services grow faster, especially when they are initially richer, urban, and connected to roads and to banks. The heterogeneity of the the short- and long-run effects of railroads on individual and local development in Nigeria is found to be substantial. Unlike in areas further away from the coast, the railway had no impact in areas that had access to ports of export and those areas barely adopted the railway as it did not reduce their shipping costs. The cross-country heterogeneity in the adoption of savings investment technologies is shown to be accounted for by rational, welfare maximizing decisions based on distinct underlying economic characteristics.