We investigate to what extent the roll-out of the mobile phone network in Mozambique reduced search costs, and thereby lowered transport costs and improved the efficiency of agricultural markets. Estimations are based on data of both maize market prices and transport costs of maize grain....

Purpose – 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.Design/methodology/approach – Robust Ordinary Least Squares and Two Stage Least Squares...

In the first macroeconomic empirical assessment of the relationship between mobile phones and finance, this paper examines the correlations between mobile phone penetration and financial development using two conflicting definitions of the financial system in the financial development...

We investigate search costs for farmers and traders, by measuring how the introduction of mobile phones in Mozambique affected maize producer prices and traders’ margins. Our estimations are based on weekly producer and retail prices of white maize grain, from July 1997 to December 2009, for...

I use the quasi experimental nature of the roll-out of the mobile phone network in Mozambique to estimate the impact of search costs on the dispersion of maize prices and transport costs. The introduction of mobile phone services from 1997 to 2009 explains a 4.5-11% percent reduction in price...

Recently, policy makers worldwide have suggested and passed legislation to ban mobile phone use in schools. The influential and only quantitative evaluation by Beland and Murphy (2016), suggests that this is a very low-cost but effective policy to improve student performance. In particular, it...

We investigate to what extent the roll-out of the mobile phone network in Mozambique reduced transport costs and search costs, and thereby decreased spatial price dispersion and improved market efficiency. Estimations are based on data of transport costs of maize grain and maize market prices....

The digital revolution and the ongoing dissemination of mobile phones carry several prospects for smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa. Food insecurity remains a major issue among African smallholders. Mobile phones could potentially facilitate access to food markets and thus improve food...

We measure the impact of search costs on farmers' and traders' transaction prices in Mozambique by investigating to what extent the introduction of mobile phones has affected the margin between recorded maize producer and retail market prices, and by exploring if producers or traders benefit...

The use of mobile phones in poverty reduction and development has ignited much interest over the past decade. To take advantage of the rapid expansion of mobile phones in developing countries, businesses, government agencies and non-governmental organisations are increasingly turning their...