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

全球智能手机的功能越来越强大，成本也越来越低，这使得低收入社区有可能访问互联网和社交媒体。更多地使用互联网和其他形式的社交媒体对妇女参与这些社区的商业和政治有何影响？这项研究将使用实验方法和现代经济理论来调查通过智能手机接入互联网对低收入社区女性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技术方面是否存在性别差异，移动技术对商业发展和政治参与的影响是否存在性别差异，特别是上网是否鼓励女性竞选政治职位。最后，这项研究还将研究上网是否会改变低收入社区的性别规范。这项研究的结果将使人们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不同。它还为制定减少低收入社区贫困的政策提供了投入。这项研究确立了美国在研究数字技术创新对低收入社区的影响方面的全球领先地位。该项目包括两项独立的研究，重点是通过手机访问互联网对低收入社区的影响及其分配后果。这两个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。PIS将使用回归不连续设计来研究智能手机接入如何影响选举结果、政治冲突和女性的政治参与。指标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策略，为女性最近获得的手机引入一项新的增值服务：该服务每周提供有关健康和政府服务的信息，同时每月联系女性，征求她们对服务提供的反馈。这项研究将对使用这项服务的财政激励措施以及被邀请参与这项服务的妇女在社区中的份额进行不同的研究。这一设计将使私人投资机构能够评估向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收养决定，以及采用如何影响社会规范和妇女的网络。这项研究的结果将使人们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不同。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先地位。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.