The Impact Of Mobile Phones On Poverty And Inequality In Developing Countries

Download or read book The Impact of Mobile Phones on Poverty and Inequality in Developing Countries written by Jeffrey James and published by Springer. This book was released on 2015-12-23 with total page 99 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book investigates at both the micro- and macroeconomic levels the impact of mobile phones on poverty and inequality in developing countries. To gauge the effects of mobile phones on these aspects, the author refers to the standard concept of technology adoption and also analyses the actual utilization of mobile phones as a means of communication and the degree to which they have supplanted fixed-line phones. Readers will learn why the substitution effect is stronger among poor than rich users and why the benefits of some mobile phone projects are confined to the local or village level, while in other projects the gains can be felt throughout the economy as a whole.

Download or read book World Development Report 2016 written by World Bank Group and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2016-01-14 with total page 359 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Digital technologies are spreading rapidly, but digital dividends--the broader benefits of faster growth, more jobs, and better services--are not. If more than 40 percent of adults in East Africa pay their utility bills using a mobile phone, why can’t others around the world do the same? If 8 million entrepreneurs in China--one third of them women--can use an e-commerce platform to export goods to 120 countries, why can’t entrepreneurs elsewhere achieve the same global reach? And if India can provide unique digital identification to 1 billion people in five years, and thereby reduce corruption by billions of dollars, why can’t other countries replicate its success? Indeed, what’s holding back countries from realizing the profound and transformational effects that digital technologies are supposed to deliver? Two main reasons. First, nearly 60 percent of the world’s population are still offline and can’t participate in the digital economy in any meaningful way. Second, and more important, the benefits of digital technologies can be offset by growing risks. Startups can disrupt incumbents, but not when vested interests and regulatory uncertainty obstruct competition and the entry of new firms. Employment opportunities may be greater, but not when the labor market is polarized. The internet can be a platform for universal empowerment, but not when it becomes a tool for state control and elite capture. The World Development Report 2016 shows that while the digital revolution has forged ahead, its 'analog complements'--the regulations that promote entry and competition, the skills that enable workers to access and then leverage the new economy, and the institutions that are accountable to citizens--have not kept pace. And when these analog complements to digital investments are absent, the development impact can be disappointing. What, then, should countries do? They should formulate digital development strategies that are much broader than current information and communication technology (ICT) strategies. They should create a policy and institutional environment for technology that fosters the greatest benefits. In short, they need to build a strong analog foundation to deliver digital dividends to everyone, everywhere.

Download or read book Accelerating Poverty Reduction in Africa written by Kathleen Beegle and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2019-10-09 with total page 481 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sub-Saharan Africa's turnaround over the past couple of decades has been dramatic. After many years in decline, the continent's economy picked up in the mid-1990s. Along with this macroeconomic growth, people became healthier, many more youngsters attended schools, and the rate of extreme poverty declined from 54 percent in 1990 to 41 percent in 2015. Political and social freedoms expanded, and gender equality advanced. Conflict in the region also subsided, although it still claims thousands of civilian lives in some countries and still drives pressing numbers of displaced persons. Despite Africa’s widespread economic and social welfare accomplishments, the region’s challenges remain daunting: Economic growth has slowed in recent years. Poverty rates in many countries are the highest in the world. And notably, the number of poor in Africa is rising because of population growth. From a global perspective, the biggest concentration of poverty has shifted from South Asia to Africa. Accelerating Poverty Reduction in Africa explores critical policy entry points to address the demographic, societal, and political drivers of poverty; improve income-earning opportunities both on and off the farm; and better mobilize resources for the poor. It looks beyond macroeconomic stability and growth—critical yet insufficient components of these objectives—to ask what more could be done and where policy makers should focus their attention to speed up poverty reduction. The pro-poor policy agenda advanced in this volume requires not only economic growth where the poor work and live, but also mitigation of the many risks to which African households are exposed. As such, this report takes a "jobs" lens to its task. It focuses squarely on the productivity and livelihoods of the poor and vulnerable—that is, what it will take to increase their earnings. Finally, it presents a road map for financing the poverty and development agenda.

Download or read book Accélérer la réduction de la pauvreté en Afrique written by Kathleen Beegle and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2019-10-09 with total page 536 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Le redressement de l’Afrique subsaharienne a été spectaculaire au cours des deux dernières décennies. Après de nombreuses années de déclin, l’économie du continent a commencé à reprendre de la vigueur au milieu des années 90. Grâce à cette croissance macroéconomique, la santé de la population s’est améliorée, le nombre des jeunes fréquentant l’école a augmenté, et le taux d'extrême pauvreté a diminué de 54 % en 1990 à 41 % en 2015. La région a connu moins de conflits (en dépit de ceux qui couvent dans certains pays et du nombre inquiétant des personnes déplacées), un élargissement des libertés politiques et sociales, et des progrès dans l’égalité hommes-femmes. Malgré ces avancées, les défis sont énormes. La croissance économique a ralenti au cours des dernières années. Les taux de pauvreté affichés dans de nombreux pays sont les plus élevés du monde. Et la croissance démographique africaine provoque une augmentation du nombre des pauvres du continent. Au niveau mondial, on assiste à un déplacement de la pauvreté de l'Asie du Sud vers l'Afrique. La stabilité et la croissance macroéconomiques sont certes des composantes essentielles de la réduction de la pauvreté et de l’amélioration du bien-être, mais elles ne sont pas suffisantes. Ce rapport explore les points d’entrée critiques et les domaines d’action prioritaires pour l’accélération de la réduction de la pauvreté en Afrique. Au-delà de la stabilité et de la croissance macroéconomiques, il cherche à savoir ce qui peut encore être fait et à identifier les points sur lesquels les décideurs devraient se concentrer pour réduire la pauvreté. Un agenda des politiques favorable aux pauvres requiert de la croissance aux endroits où ceux-ci vivent et travaillent, ainsi que de s’attaquer aux nombreux risques auxquels les ménages sont exposés. En conséquence de quoi, le présent rapport a ajouté une optique « emplois » à son travail. Il met carrément l’accent sur la productivité et les moyens de subsistance des pauvres et des personnes vulnérables, autrement dit sur ce qui est nécessaire pour accroître leurs revenus. Il s’attache enfin à la manière de financer l’agenda de lutte contre la pauvreté et de développement.

Download or read book Sustainable Growth in the African Economy written by Jeffrey James and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-03-27 with total page 211 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The current growth path in sub-Saharan Africa is not following the Lewis model where labour moves from low-productivity agriculture to higher productivity manufacturing. Instead, it is moving directly to inappropriate (import and labour-saving) methods. This book seeks to show how this distorted growth process leaves out the major resource of these countries – labour – and ends up creating unstable employment and underemployment, leading to inequality and poverty. In this way it demonstrates how the entire growth process may be rendered unstable and unsustainable. Sustainable Growth in the African Economy considers whether the relatively rapid growth of recent years can be maintained or improved upon, with a focus on the process of industrialisation. Basing itself on a well-known dual-economy model, the proposed book focuses on several major problems of industrialisation, which has long been seen as the means of structural change in an economy which begins from a low income level. The book considers how the future trajectory of sub-Saharan Africa compares to recent success stories on other continents, and explains how factors such as rapid population growth and capital and import-intensive technology in manufacturing could foreshadow future social and political problems. This book will be essential reading to students and policymakers who are concerned with the existing pattern of African growth.

Download or read book Institutions, Technology and Development in Africa written by Jeffrey James and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-12-07 with total page 142 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An extensive literature has demonstrated that technologies in sub-Saharan Africa are largely inappropriate: that is, that they are typically capital- and import-intensive rather than labour- and local input-intensive. These technologies have created a pattern of development that is highly unequal, with widespread unemployment and under-employment. In this literature, however, relatively little attention has been paid to the institutions that govern the generation, adoption and use of technology. This book draws on historical analysis and case studies to evaluate how institutions in different countries, including those in Africa itself, generate technologies that vary in their characteristics and suitability for the region. Through these case studies, insight is gained into the characteristics of ‘appropriate’ institutions that might underlie a more balanced pattern of technology and development than currently exists. The findings of the book clearly confirm a major tenet of institutionalist theory: namely, that institutions developed in one set of circumstances are unlikely to be appropriate to conditions in a markedly different set. This book will be of interest to economists, social historians and anyone with an interest in modern African development.

Download or read book Mobile Phone Panel Surveys in Developing Countries written by Andrew Dabalen and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2016-07-12 with total page 142 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Household survey data are very useful for monitoring living conditions of citizens of any country. In developing countries, a lot of this data are collected through “traditional†? face-to-face household surveys. Due to the remote and dispersed nature of many populations in developing countries, but also because of the complex nature of many survey questionnaires, collection of timely welfare data has often proved expensive and logistically challenging. Yet, there is a need for faster, cheaper to collect, lighter, more nimble data collection methods to address data gaps between big household surveys. The recent proliferation of mobile phone networks has opened new possibilities. By combining baseline data from a traditional household survey with subsequent interviews of selected respondents using mobile phones, this facilitates welfare monitoring and opinion polling almost real time. The purpose of this handbook is to contribute to the development of the new field of mobile phone data collection in developing countries. The handbook documents how this innovative approach to data collection works, its advantages and challenges. The handbook draws primarily from the authors’ first-hand experiences with mobile phone surveys in Africa and also benefits from experiences elsewhere. It is intended to serve a diverse audience including those involved in collecting (representative) data using mobile phones, and those using data collected through this approach. For those who will be implementing a mobile phone panel survey, the different chapters guide them through every stage of the implementation process. For potential users of the data collected via mobile phone technology, the handbook presents a new approach to data collection which they can use for monitoring programs and facilitate almost real time decision-making. A further purpose of this book is to contribute to the debate regarding the advantages of the method as well as the challenges associated with it.