Soutenance de thèse d’Agbessi Augustin Doto

Détails de l'événement :

Titre de la thèse : Four Empirical Essays on the Effects of Economic Digitalization and Digital Finance in Developing Countries

Thèse réalisée en cotutelle sous la direction de M. Blaise Gnimassoun (MCF-HDR – Université de Lorraine – France) et de M. Mawuli Couchoro (Professeur – Université de Lomé – Togo).

Le jury est composé de :

• M. Joël Cariolle, Chargé de recherche à la FERDI – Rapporteur
• Mme Mathilde Maurel, Professeure – Université Paris 1 – Rapporteure
• M. Romain Restout, Professeur – Université Paris-Est Créteil – Examinateur
• M. Koffi Sodokin, MCF-HDR – Université de Lomé – Examinateur
• Mme Yamina Tadjeddine Fourneyron, Professeure – Université de Lorraine – Examinatrice

Résumé: The digitalization of the economy and the development of digital finance have accelerated considerably in developing countries since the early 2000s, profoundly transforming economic practices and interactions. Beyond the digitalization of public administration, the rise of digital payments, and particularly the adoption of mobile money, represents one of the major innovations driving this transformation in developing countries.

This dissertation presents four empirical essays examining the economic effects of this digital transformation. It first analyzes the effects of the adoption of digital payments on firm productivity and then on aggregate economic productivity. It subsequently examines the effects of the digitalization of public administration on the mobilization of domestic resources, particularly tax revenues, as well as how this digitalization alters the impact of the informal sector on tax revenues. Finally, the dissertation investigates the effects of mobile money adoption on the external balance of developing countries, analyzing the transmission mechanisms operating through domestic savings and domestic investment.

From a methodological perspective, the dissertation employs several econometric strategies for causal identification applied to panel data covering a number of developing countries over the past three decades. It relies in particular on matching and reweighting methods (Propensity Score Matching, Inverse Probability-Weighted Regression Adjustment, and Entropy Balancing), instrumental variable approaches (2SLS), dynamic panel estimators based on the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM), as well as difference-in-differences methods. The complementarity of these approaches makes it possible to address various empirical identification challenges, including selection bias, endogeneity, and unobserved heterogeneity, while strengthening the robustness of the findings. This methodological framework thus allows for a more rigorous identification of the microeconomic and macroeconomic effects of the digitalization of the economy and digital finance in developing countries.

Overall, the findings highlight the favorable effects of the digitalization of the economy and digital finance on productivity, domestic resource mobilization, and current account balances in developing countries. The first chapter shows that the use of mobile money has a positive and statistically significant effect on firm productivity within the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). It also highlights the crucial role of the innovation ecosystem in determining the magnitude of this effect. From a more aggregate perspective, the second chapter shows that digital payments have a positive and robust effect on aggregate and sectoral productivity in developing countries. The third chapter establishes that the development of digital public services significantly enhances domestic resource mobilization, particularly tax revenues. It also shows that the digitalization of public administration helps mitigate the negative effect of the informal sector on tax revenue mobilization. Finally, the fourth chapter shows that the adoption of mobile money significantly and robustly improves the current account balance. This effect operates primarily through an increase in national saving, while the positive effect on investment appears weaker and sensitive to the specifications considered. The heterogeneity analysis further shows that the positive effect of mobile money on the current account is more pronounced in low-income countries, countries characterized by lower governance quality, and economies without a fixed exchange rate regime.