Doctoral Dissertation Research: Mobile Phone Distribution and Food Security

在这个项目中，移动的电话接入的变化和模式进行了调查和移动的电话接入对全球粮食安全在过去20年的影响进行了评估。政策举措激增的假设是，移动的电话有能力促进发展部门的改善，特别是在自给农业方面（例如，允许农民查看天气预报）。然而，很少有跨国实证研究调查移动的电话总体上是否有助于发展成果。如果移动的电话以政策说明和案例研究所建议的方式促进农业部门的发展，其分布应在各国和长期内对全球粮食安全产生积极影响。 这项研究的结果将有助于公共福利和安全，通过测试的假设潜在的承诺，移动的电话作为一种发展工具。 基于案例研究的结果，找到支持的经济，政治，健康和教育的好处，获得新的信息和通信技术，这个项目使用定量跨国比较研究设计，以解释模式的移动的电话分配和访问。 报告随后评估了移动的电话接入的分布在促进一项核心发展成果-粮食安全方面的作用。数据来自国际电信联盟，并辅以其他来源的数据。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。

In this project, variation and patterns in mobile phone access are investigated and the effect of mobile phone access on global food security over the last 20 years is assessed. Policy initiatives have proliferated under the assumption that mobile phones have the ability to foster improvements in development sectors, particularly in subsistence agriculture (by, for example, allowing farmers to check weather forecasts). However, there has been little cross-national empirical research investigating whether mobile phones in aggregate contribute to development outcomes. If mobile phones contribute to agrarian sector development in the way that policy narratives and case studies suggest, their distribution should have positive impacts on global food security across-countries and over time. Findings from this study will contribute to public welfare and security by testing the assumption underlying the promise of mobile phones as a development tool. Building on case study findings that find support for the economic, political, health, and educational benefits of access to newer information and communication technologies, this project uses a quantitative cross-national comparative research design to explain patterns of mobile phone distribution and access. It subsequently assesses the role of the distribution of mobile phone access in contributing to one central development outcome, food security. Data come from the International Telecommunications Union, supplemented with data from other sources. These data are analyzed using appropriate statistical methods.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.