Labor mobility and technology diffusion: A new concept and its application to rural Southeast Asia

Michael Hübler

Journal of Asian Economics, 2015, vol. 39, issue C, 137-151

Abstract: We develop a new concept of rural technology diffusion influenced by labor mobility and business relations. The technology gain effect of labor mobility increases technology diffusion, whereas the technology drain effect decreases it. The concept is applied to survey data from the Mekong region, a new geographic area in this context. In the econometric analysis, which takes spatial correlation and geographic variables into account, technology is measured in the form of the number of mobile phones per village. The results support the technology gain and drain effects and show that labor mobility and business relations can help overcome geographic obstacles to rural development.

Keywords: Technology diffusion; Mobile phones; Labor mobility; Rural development; Southeast Asia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O18 O19 O33 O53 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Working Paper: Labor Mobility and Technology Diffusion: a New Concept and its Application to Rural Southeast Asia (2015)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:asieco:v:39:y:2015:i:c:p:137-151

DOI: 10.1016/j.asieco.2015.06.007

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