Mobile Internet Use and Multidimensional Poverty: Evidence from A Household Survey in Rural China

Abstract

Although reducing poverty has become an important issue for rural development in China, few studies have analyzed the role of mobile Internet use in multidimensional poverty. To fill this gap, this study investigated the impact of mobile Internet use on multidimensional poverty, using data collected from a household survey in rural China. Because households generally decide whether to use mobile Internet by themselves, an endogenous switching regression model was employed to control for potential selection bias. In total, 9.63% of the households were identified as multidimensionally poor and the adjusted multidimensional poverty incidence was 5.47%. The results also showed that mobile Internet use has a significant negative impact on multidimensional poverty. Further, we provide evidence of heterogeneity in the effect of mobile Internet use across regions. These findings highlight the importance of mobile Internet use in multidimensional poverty reduction strategies for rural households.

Does the Adoption of Mobile Internet Technology Promote Wheat Productivity? Evidence from Rural Farmers

“…High-level schooling substantially upsurges the probability of MIT adoption. This result is similar to Yang et al [15] regarding MIT adoption in China. It reproduces the fact that education enables growers to examine the adoption of modern technology and make appropriate decisions [15,78,79].…”

“…This result is similar to Yang et al [15] regarding MIT adoption in China. It reproduces the fact that education enables growers to examine the adoption of modern technology and make appropriate decisions [15,78,79]. In terms of gender, it is found that female-headed families are less probable to adopt MIT than maleheaded households [25].…”

“…Especially due to information asymmetry, small growers, particularly those living in rural areas, may not be able to adopt the latest equipment such as mobile Internet technology (MIT) and inputs to increase productivity [14]. Therefore, the crop yields and incomes of these growers are low, which is not conducive to their livelihoods and rural development [15][16][17][18]. Hence, advanced methods used to reduce information asymmetry are worthwhile, especially when using MIT to improve farm performance [19].…”

Less Inclusive Growth in Indonesia? The Unintended Consequences of Internet Penetration

“…This paper contributes to the literature by providing a more comprehensive analysis than previous studies that were relatively more partial in examining the impact of internet penetration on inclusive growth. The most recent study on the link of the internet to indicators of inclusive growth can be separated into three categories: i) the internet and changes in per capita income (Maurseth, 2018;Hussain, Batool, Akbar & Nazir, 2021;Abdulqadir & Asongu, 2022); ii) internet and income inequality (Bauer, 2018;Canh, Schinckus, Thanh & Hui Ling, 2020;Du, Zhou, Cao, Zhang, Chen & King, 2021); and iii) internet and poverty (Yang, Lu, Wang & Li, 2021;Lechman & Popowska, 2022). The next part of this paper will reconcile the theoretical framework scattered in previous studies to serve as the basis for formulating recommendations for inclusive economic growth during the digitalization era.…”

Household welfare in the digital age: Assessing the effect of mobile money on household consumption volatility in developing countries

“…The conclusion indicates that ICT improves households' welfare. For example, cell phones (or mobile cellular) could enhance market integration, income, and economic performance (Aker, 2010;Andrianaivo and Kpodar, 2012;Khanal et al, 2015;Wamboye et al, 2016 ;Appiah-Otoo and Song, 2021;Gurning and Khaliqi, 2021;Mora-Rivera and García-Mora, 2021;Yang et al, 2021) thus reducing income unpredictability and promoting consumption smoothing (Herrera, 2008). In addition, cell phones allow network expansion and efficient communication, thus helping reduce household consumption volatility.…”