Is information communication technology and women empowerment helping to alleviate poverty in Pakistan?

Abstract

The study investigates the role of Information Communication Technology (ICT) and women empowerment in reducing Pakistan's poverty by make use of the Household Integrated Economic Survey 2018-19. The poverty situation of a country, when defined through different poverty bands, has significant policy implications as categorizing people into different poverty bands helps in targeted policy initiatives for these groups. The five levels of the poor defined for this research are (extremely poor, deeply poor, poor, vulnerable, and marginally poor). To analyze the determinants of poverty Probit model has been used, whereas for targeted policy implication, quantile regression has been employed. The empirical results reveal that ICT has a significant role in alleviating poverty. Access to the internet plays a significant role in reducing poverty by rendering job and entrepreneurial opportunities. It helps the rural population keep abreast with the latest information and developments. Further, women empowerment has a significant impact on improving the living standard of a household, and the impact is strong for marginally poor households as compared to extremely poor households. Finally, other control variables like human capital and the experience of the household head also play a significant role in helping the households to improve their poverty state.