 Call Your Leader: Does the Mobile Phone Affect Policymaking?Jahen Fachrul Rezki No 3s784, SocArXiv from Center for Open Science Abstract: This paper analyses the impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on policymaking on an Indonesian Village level. In this study, I use data from different waves of the Indonesian Village Potential Statistics (Potensi Desa) to determine whether mobile phone signal strength affects village policies and civic engagement activities. The results indicate that villages with a strong signal are statistically more likely to possess the proper infrastructure and economic programs. Furthermore, mobile phones increase civic engagement, which is consistent with previous studies related to collective action or mass mobilisation. Using the plausibly exogenous variation of lightning strike intensity as the instrumental variable, this study suggests that higher mobile phone signal strength is positively associated with the policies implemented by the village head. This study also demonstrates that ICT has a stronger effect in rural areas. One possible explanation is that mobile phones improve the relative ability for rural people to interact with their leaders. Another potential answer is the fact that there are significant differences between rural village and urban village governments, which could also affect policymaking. Date: 2018-11-23 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:osf:socarx:3s784 Access Statistics for this paper More papers in SocArXiv from Center for Open Science |
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