The impact of mobile phone penetration on African inequality
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to complement theoretical and qualitative literature with empirical evidence on the income-redistributive effect of mobile phone penetration in 52 African countries.
Design/methodology/approach
Robust ordinary least squares and two stage least squares empirical strategies are employed.
Findings
The findings suggest that mobile penetration is pro-poor, as it has a positive income equality effect.
Social implications
“Mobile phone”-oriented poverty reduction channels are discussed.
Originality/value
It deviates from mainstream country-specific and microeconomic survey-based approaches in the literature and provides the first macroeconomic assessment of the “mobile phone”-inequality nexus.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The author is highly indebted to the editor and referees for useful comments.
Citation
Asongu, S. (2015), "The impact of mobile phone penetration on African inequality", International Journal of Social Economics, Vol. 42 No. 8, pp. 706-716. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSE-11-2012-0228
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2015, Emerald Group Publishing Limited