How Migrant Workers Optimize the Use of Fintech to Send International Remittances

Abstract

We use data from a leading fintech firm in Korea, including transaction-level data on international remittance payments to developing Asia and referral data among users, to study the role of social networks in helping low-income workers optimize their use of a new technology. Our study shows how experience using a desirable fintech feature--an order cancellation option--helps workers optimize the timing of the exchange rate applied to their transactions. Overall, we find that workers' personal experience using the fintech, and the experience of the worker's social network, increase the frequency and efficiency of workers' use of the feature.

Keywords: International Remittance, FinTech, Social Networks, Learning