Financial Technologies, Labor Markets, and Wage Inequality: Evidence from Instant Payment Systems

Abstract

While technological innovations typically increase wage inequality by favoring skilled workers, we show that instant payment systems instead reduce it. We study the labor market effects of instant payment systems in the context of Brazil's Pix rollout. Using matched employer-employee data, we implement a triple-difference design that exploits pre-Pix mobile penetration across municipalities, the differential benefits of Pix for small versus large establishments, and the timing of Pix. We find that wages in small establishments rise significantly relative to large establishments after Pix. These gains are concentrated in cash-intensive sectors such as retail and services, with no effects in wholesale or manufacturing. Crucially, wage inequality declines, driven by wage gains in the lower half of the distribution, with no effect at the top. Our evidence points to increased small-firm labor demand, consistent with lower payment frictions. These effects are amplified where low-skill labor is scarce. A calibrated monopsony model implies that uniform Pix adoption would reduce both the within- and between-municipality components of wage dispersion, amplifying the aggregate inequality reduction.