The impact of mobile phone penetration on African inequality

Asongu, Simplice A (2012): The impact of mobile phone penetration on African inequality. Forthcoming in:

Abstract

The aim 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. 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. The findings suggest that mobile penetration is pro-poor, as it has a positive income equality effect. ‘Mobile phone’-oriented poverty reduction channels are discussed.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Mobile Phones; Shadow Economy; Poverty; Inequality; Africa
• Subjects: E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E0 - General > E00 - General; G - Financial Economics > G2 - Financial Institutions and Services > G20 - General; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I3 - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty > I30 - General; L - Industrial Organization > L9 - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities; L - Industrial Organization > L9 - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities > L96 - Telecommunications; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O3 - Innovation ; Research and Development ; Technological Change ; Intellectual Property Rights > O33 - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences ; Diffusion Processes; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O5 - Economywide Country Studies > O55 - Africa

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