Final Report/Synopsis of Research Results: Following the 2007 redenomination exercise in Ghana, we wondered what impact it had on the most financially vulnerable populace in Ghana. It is our assertion that the redenomination of the cedi may have had a unique impact on Ghana’s urban poor with respect to their money management, saving behavior, and financial literacy. This study focuses on the coping strategies adopted by those living on less than a dollar a day post redenomination.

This study evaluated the impact of mobile banking products on the financial behaviors of Ghana’s urban poor in 2011, one year after their re-introduction into the country. With the use of semi-structured interviews and a document review, customer awareness of mobile money, perceived usefulness and trust of mobile money, and barriers to mobile money adoption were explored in low and high income residents of Accra, as well as market women and high end merchants.

This paper utilizes both qualitative and quantitative data to examine popular conceptions about the causes of poverty and wealth in an adult sample in Ghana, West Africa. While overall perceptions included individualistic, structural, and culturally-specific religious factors, individual agency was identified as the primary cause of both poverty and wealth in this developing country.