Does social media drive remittances in Africa?

Abstract

Abstract Social media in Africa has grown considerably over the past two decades and has fueled an extremely abundant literature. In this article, we examine their effects on remittances observed from a sample of 50 African countries. To achieve this, we specify and estimate a panel data model using the system generalized method of moments over the period 2009–2019. Our results show that social media, approximated by the Facebook penetration rate, increases remittances in Africa. Controlled by four complementary measures of social media (Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Twitter), our results remain stable and robust. We suggest a qualitative improvement in connectivity and the establishment of a traceability system to better control the volume and their orientation in the financing of productive economic activities.