Author(s): Courage Mlambo, Bhekabantu Ntshangase
The main purpose of our study is to establish the causal linkages between remittances and mobile technology. The study drew from the fact that remittances are critical to the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people in the developing world, and mobile technology is an emerging force shaping how people send and receive money. Evidence from the literature demonstrates that empirical findings on the nature of the relationship between remittances and mobile technology are scant or non-existent. This study, motivated by the scarcity of literature on the direction of causality between remittances and mobile technology investigated the nature of the relationship between remittances and mobile technology in selected SADC states. The study employed some panel cointegration techniques and the Dumitrescu & Hurlin (2012) to test the relationship between remittances and mobile technology in selected SADC states. Results showed that causality runs from remittances to mobile subscriptions. This shows that remittances have an impact on mobile subscriptions but not vice versa. This result shows the development impact of remittances. The analysis also showed that there is no causal relationships between unemployment and remittances. The relationship between economic development and remittances seen to be running from economic development to remittances. The study recommended that the expansion of mobile telecom infrastructure should precede any effort to expand mobile money adoption in these countries.