How important is mobile telephony for economic growth? Evidence from MENA countries
How important is mobile telephony for economic growth? Evidence from MENA countries
复制标题
移动电话对经济增长有多重要？
DOI：
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发表时间：
2016
期刊：
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
Saibal Ghosh
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Saibal Ghosh
目的
近年来，移动电话的爆炸性发展导致了大量文学作品的出现。一个研究相对较少的领域是移动电话在影响经济增长方面的作用以及金融包容性在这方面的相关性。利用2001-2012年中东和北非国家的数据，本文旨在实证框架内考察这一问题。
设计/方法/方法
该分析以2001-2012年期间的纵向数据为基础，审查了人均收入、金融包容性和移动电话之间的相互关系。为了理解这种相互关系，作者使用了一个联立方程模型。与通常的最小二乘法不同，3SLS利用了两个结构项中的扰动项同时相关的信息，从而产生了一致的估计。
发现
分析表明，这些变量之间存在显著的关系。特别是，使用移动电话的人口比例每增加1%，收入就会增加约0.3%个百分点，而金融包容性每增加1%，对收入的影响就会翻倍。这些发现还支持收入和手机渗透率之间的凸性、非线性关系。稳健性测试为这些发现提供了证据。
原创性/价值
虽然有几项关于移动电话和增长的研究，但本文在金融包容性领域提供了完全独到的贡献，将发展移动通信与阿拉伯经济体中无银行账户的人口的新渠道联系起来。
Purpose
The explosion of mobile telephony in recent times has led to the emergence of a significant volume of literature. One area that has been relatively under-researched has been the role of mobile telephony in impacting economic growth and the relevance of financial inclusion in this respect. Using data on MENA countries during 2001-2012, this paper aims to examine this issue within an empirical framework.
Design/methodology/approach
The analysis is based on longitudinal data for the period 2001-2012 and examines the interrelationships among per capita income, financial inclusion and mobile telephony. To take on board this interrelationship, the authors use a simultaneous equation model. In contrast to the ordinary least squares, 3SLS exploits the information that the disturbance terms in the two structural terms are contemporaneously correlated, thereby producing consistent estimates.
Findings
The analysis suggests a significant relationship among these variables. In particular, a 1 per cent increase in the fraction of population using mobile telephony improves incomes by roughly 0.3 per cent points, whereas a similar 1 per cent increase in financial inclusion has double the impact on income. The findings also support a convex, non-linear relationship between income and cellular penetration. Robustness tests lend credence to these findings.
Originality/value
Although there are several studies on mobile telephony and growth, this paper provides a completely original contribution in the area of financial inclusion, linking the development of access to mobile communication to new channels for the unbanked population in the Arab economies.