Understanding Temptation Spending and Saving Behaviour Among Malian Farming Households

ABSTRACT In low‐income and food‐insecure households, impulsive purchases of nonessential items, known as temptation spending, can create a cycle of persistent poverty. Using machine learning techniques, we examine the statistical associations between the saving channel and such temptation spending, employing primary data from Malian smallholder farmers. Our findings show that saving with mobile money statistically significantly reduces the probability of temptation spending, while saving with family, friends, or at home increases the probability statistically significantly. Given the rapid expansion of mobile money services in general and in Mali in particular, these results offer crucial insights into how the utilization of mobile money influences an individual's spending behaviour and might contribute to rural resilience and food security.