Political economy of financial inclusion in Lesotho
Mobile money and the experiences of low-income and rural communities
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 14759882 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Sean Maliehe (University of the Free State, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 2022 |
| Issue | 88 |
| Pages | 1-18 |
| Publication date | 2022-07-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | New Contree (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0379-9867 • E-ISSN: 2959-510X |
| Publisher | AOSIS (PUBLISHER • ZA) |
| DOI | 10.54146/newcontree/2022/88/01 |
| OpenAlex | W4312353022 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 2 |
This paper examines the development of mobile money in contemporary \nLesotho, 2012-2020. Using historical and ethnographic sources, it situates \nthe development of this mobile phone-based financial system within the \nbroader economic history of the country. It adopts a political economy \napproach to analyse the emergence and evolution of mobile money as an \ninstrument of financial inclusion used by the government of Lesotho and \ninternational organisations. The paper advances that when operating with the \nlogic of capitalism, free market policies, emergent mobile money networks are \nhierarchically structured and privileges enterprises and corporations with bigger \nfinancial muscle. The majority of small agents, the Basotho entrepreneurs, are \nmarginal and have to operate precariously with limited capital and low cash-flows \nto ensure efficient services for the people. As a corollary to this, the rural \npoor are further excluded and exploited by the agents. A general assessment \nadvanced in the article is that the rigidly defined digital eco-system is geared \ntowards integrating the lower echelons of the economy asymmetrically into \nthe mainstream financial economy dominated by corporations. However, this \ncannot be defined as any meaningful financial inclusion.
Business · Economics · Financial inclusion · Financial services · Inclusion (mineral) · Low income · Mobile payment · Political science · Politics · Rural area · Rural economy · Social science · Socioeconomics · Sociology · Finance · Microfinance and Financial Inclusion
| Highly cited | No |
|---|