Mobile Phones and Economic Development in Africa

Aker, Jenny C.; Mbiti, Isaac

doi:10.1257/jep.24.3.207

Cited by 1,351 publications

(532 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Base on his results, he concludes that telecommunications are valuable tools that can help build development dynamics. [7] discusses the impact of the rapid diffusion of mobile phone usage in Sub-Sharan Africa. [8] analyses empirically the impact of ICT capital on productivity of firms in Brazil and India.…”

Section: Glance On Studies Related To Internet Impact On Economic Growthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do Internet and Human Capital Matter for Economic Growth in Developing Countries? Empirical Evidence from WAEMU Countries

Johnson¹

2016

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In the attempt to establish new sources of economic growth in the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) countries except Gunea Bissau for sustainable growth of the region, this study aims to empirically assess the role of internet and revisit the impact of human capital in these countries based on panel data from 2009 to 2014. We firstly use the principal component analysis technique to build the internet network development index and the human capital index. Then we estimate a Cobb-Douglas function under the neoclassical Solow model to establish the relationship between gross domestic product and internet and human capital by using the fixed effects estimation technique. The findings indicate that internet network development constitutes an important pillar for economic growth in WAEMU countries at the current prevailing economic environment. In addition, they reveal that the performance of human capital in terms of economic growth is weak, a result which can be attributed to the poor quality of educational systems of the union. Physical capital is another source of economic growth of the WAEMU countries established by this study. Policy message drawn from this study encourages strategies aiming to strengthen internet network development in WAEMU countries.

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Section: Glance On Studies Related To Internet Impact On Economic Growthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do Internet and Human Capital Matter for Economic Growth in Developing Countries? Empirical Evidence from WAEMU Countries

Johnson¹

2016

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“…Common electronic devices used are mobile phones, smartphones and tablets. Mobile banking is a subset of Internet banking and a portable extension of it, increasing flexibility for customers and improving the services of a bank (Aker & Mbiti 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mobile banking in South Africa: A review and directions for future research

Chigada

Hirschfelder

2017

S. Afr. j. inf. manag.

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Background: The purpose of this study was to review existing research on mobile banking diffusion and investigate the adoption of mobile banking in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).Objectives: Based on the failure of the M-Pesa in South Africa, this article also attempted to determine why mobile money service systems are difficult to apply transnationally.Method: This was a literature survey, analysing mobile money literature during the period 2006–2016. Because of the current explosiveness of mobile money in SSA, the focus of this literature survey was limited geographically to South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya.Results: The results of the literature survey and the real-world examples mainly show that a transnational application of mobile money service systems is difficult to implement.Conclusion: This research elucidates the demand and need for mobile money service systems in SSA while underlining the explosiveness promoted mainly by rapid technological progress.

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“…In total, the dataset contains records of 1,562,327,418 voice calls and 2,287,872,391 text messages between Dakar cell towers. It is estimated that 64% of the population of Senegal is a customer of Orange (de Montjoye et al 2014), and we may expect higher proportions of the population of Dakar to be represented in this dataset, evidence from Kenya in 2009 suggested three quarters of urban dwellers had mobile phones compared to one third of rural residents (Aker and Mbiti 2010). This dataset will form the basis of an analysis of the dynamic elements of the city.…”

Section: Data Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 94%

New Forms of Data for Understanding Urban Activity in Developing Countries

Manley

Dennett

2018

Appl. Spatial Analysis

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Emerging forms of data offer new opportunities for developing a deeper understanding of poorly understood social and spatial processes. This is no more important than in developing countries, where large-scale data collection and processing has been relatively limited. In this paper, we explore how two new datasets can be used to enhance our understanding of human activity and communication interactions in Dakar, Senegal. Starting from a premise of little contextual knowledge about the setting in which we are working, we explore how much these data, combined with novel quantitative methods, are able to inform us about the urban environment in question. Fine-grained infrastructural data are combined with k-means clustering to produce an 11-class land use classification, distinguishing dense and sparse, single and mixed use regions. Using these classifications and over 1.5 billion mobile phone call records, patterns of activity and interaction within and between land use types are analysed. These analyses reveal strong activity associated with high density commercial, governmental and administrative regions. These regions are also identified as relatively strong 'attractors' of communication, and wider patterns show higher interactions between areas with similar land use characteristics. Analyses of dynamic activity and interaction patterns highlight the movement of people from workplace zones to residential areas. Importantly, these analyses reflect the expected patterns of urban activity, providing some validation of the data, methods, and the empirical approach. The paper concludes in addressing the strengths and potential of these approaches, while recognising current limitations and areas for further work.

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Mobile Phones and Economic Development in Africa

Cited by 1,351 publications

References 34 publications

Do Internet and Human Capital Matter for Economic Growth in Developing Countries? Empirical Evidence from WAEMU Countries

Do Internet and Human Capital Matter for Economic Growth in Developing Countries? Empirical Evidence from WAEMU Countries

Mobile banking in South Africa: A review and directions for future research

New Forms of Data for Understanding Urban Activity in Developing Countries

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