A Tough Call: Understanding the Gendered Impact of Mobile Technology in Low Income Communities

艰难的决定：了解移动技术对低收入社区的性别影响

• 批准号: 1949522
• 负责人: Rohini Pande
• 金额: $ 36万
• 依托单位: Yale University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-06-01 至 2023-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1949522&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Tough; Call; Understanding; Gendered; Impact

The increasingly powerful and decreasing cost of smartphones throughout the world is making it possible for low income communities to access the internet and social other media. How does this increased access to the internet and other forms of social media affect women’s participation in business and politics in these communities? This research will use experimental methods and modern economic theory to investigate the effects of internet access through smartphones on women’s business success and political participation in low income communities. In addition, the research will investigate whether there are gender differences in adoption of this mobile technology, whether there are gender gaps in the effects of mobile technology on business development and political participation, especially whether access to the internet encourages women to run for political office. Finally, the research will also study whether access to the internet changes gender norms in low income communities. The results of this research will provide a better understanding of how technical innovation affect low income communities and whether these effects differ by gender. It also provides inputs into designing policies to reduce poverty in low income communities. This research establishes the US as the global leader in the study of the effects digital technological innovation on low income communities.This project encompasses two separate studies focusing on the effects of internet access through mobile phones on low income communities and their distributional consequences. Both parts leverage a sudden and large-scale availability of low cost smartphones to low income rural households. The PIs will use a regression discontinuity design to study how smart phone access impact electoral outcomes, political conflict, and women’s political engagement. The PIs will construct outcome variables from community-level data on electoral outcomes, including voter turnout by gender, performance of female candidates, and performance of candidates with criminal records. The project will also use newspaper reports to construct a geographically-explicit database of women’s political mobilization. In the second study, the project will employ a randomized controlled trial strategy that introduces a new value-added service for recently acquired mobile phones by women: the service delivers weekly information on health and government services, while contacting women on a monthly basis to solicit their feedback on service provision. The study will vary financial incentives to use the service as well as the share of women in the community invited to participate in the service. This design will allow the PIs to assess whether providing women with a norms-compatible “use case” for phones can spur deeper adoption, while quantifying how peer effects inform the adoption decision, and how adoption impacts social norms and women’s networks. The results of this research will provide a better understanding of how technical innovation affect low income communities and whether these effects differ by gender. This research establishes the US as the global leader in the study of the effects digital technological innovation on low income communities.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

全球智能手机功能日益强大，成本不断下降，这使得低收入社区能够访问互联网和其他社交媒体。互联网和其他形式的社交媒体的增加如何影响这些社区妇女参与商业和政治？本研究将使用实验方法和现代经济理论，调查通过智能手机访问互联网对低收入社区妇女商业成功和政治参与的影响。 此外，研究还将调查在采用这种移动的技术方面是否存在性别差异，在移动的技术对商业发展和政治参与的影响方面是否存在性别差距，特别是访问互联网是否鼓励妇女竞选政治职位。 最后，这项研究还将研究访问互联网是否会改变低收入社区的性别规范。 这项研究的结果将有助于更好地了解技术创新如何影响低收入社区，以及这些影响是否因性别而异。 它还为制定减少低收入社区贫穷的政策提供投入。这项研究确立了美国在数字技术创新对低收入社区的影响研究方面的全球领导者地位。该项目包括两项独立的研究，重点关注通过移动的电话访问互联网对低收入社区的影响及其分布后果。这两部分都利用了低收入农村家庭突然大规模获得低成本智能手机的机会。PI将使用回归不连续设计来研究智能手机访问如何影响选举结果、政治冲突和妇女的政治参与。参与者指数将根据社区一级关于选举结果的数据构建结果变量，包括按性别分列的选民投票率、女性候选人的表现以及有犯罪记录的候选人的表现。该项目还将利用报纸报道建立一个地理位置明确的妇女政治动员数据库。在第二项研究中，该项目将采用随机对照试验战略，为妇女最近购买的移动的电话推出一项新的增值服务：这项服务每周提供关于保健和政府服务的信息，同时每月与妇女联系，征求她们对提供服务的反馈意见。这项研究将改变对使用这项服务的财政奖励以及社区中应邀参加这项服务的妇女的比例。这种设计将使PI能够评估为女性提供与规范兼容的手机“用例”是否可以刺激更深层次的采用，同时量化同伴效应如何影响采用决策，以及采用如何影响社会规范和女性网络。 这项研究的结果将有助于更好地了解技术创新如何影响低收入社区，以及这些影响是否因性别而异。 这项研究确立了美国在数字技术创新对低收入社区影响研究方面的全球领导者地位。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。