Browsing by Author "Mbedzi, E."

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Consumer payment choices, costs, and risks: Evidence from Zimbabwe.
    (2021) Simatele, M.; Mbedzi, E.
    Very little is known about payment choices in the African context and in developing countries in general. Their unique infrastructures and economic nuances suggest that both the availability of instruments and supporting structures in the payment system are different from the general perception. This exploratory study investigates the payment choices in Zimbabwe, a country that claims the existence of a near cashless society. Through a descriptive and logit analysis based on survey data, we find that a strong preference for cash, coupled with cash shortages and inadequate infrastructure for electronic payments, has resulted in a multitiered pricing system, with significant premiums for digital payments. This perverse effect counters the heavily lauded benefits of mobile payments in developing countries. We argue that the demand-side bias in government policies will not effectively counter persistent currency failures and the resultant inflation, both of which havea strong influence on payment choices. We recommend that the government should consider polices that will reduce merchant adoption costs to encourage widespread use of digital payment instruments, such as debit cards. Subjects: Microeconomics; Development Economics; Finance
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Determinants of poverty alleviation: a relative panel data analysis between positive and negative poverty reduction economies
    (2020) Madzimure, T.; Mbedzi, E.
    Determinants of poverty: a relative panel data analysis among African regional economic communities Tariro Madzimure and Edson Mbedzi International Journal of Education Economics and Development, 2021, vol. 12, issue 3, 294-309 The study compares the effects of macroeconomic factors on poverty among African regional economic communities using panel data from 1991 to 2018. A fixed effects model results indicate that from the whole sample, all variables affect poverty. However, individualistic regional economic community characteristics affect poverty differently. The results show that while all factors are important when countries are considered as a single total sample, the effects of particular factors vary from one regional economic community to another signifying the importance of regional economic community characteristics heterogeneity. This implies different policies should be implemented to reduce poverty based on each country's regional belonging. Conclusively, intervening policies implemented to reduce poverty do not yield the same results for countries in different regional economic communities, meaning this classification of countries by regions matters and thus the determinant macroeconomic factors suitable for each region need to be identified first before implementation.