Mobile internet connectivity and household wealth in the Philippines

Zhiwu Wei, Neil Lee and Yohan Iddawela

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: Mobile internet has become a fundamental modern infrastructure. We consider how access influences household wealth in the Philippines using a granular measure of local connectivity based on geocoded cell towers and identify causal impact through an instrument based on proximity to submarine cable landing points. Our results show that mobile internet connectivity increases household wealth, with effects across education levels and most pronounced in urban areas. We investigate potential mechanisms and find that improved connectivity stimulates activity in key economic sectors, improves educational outcomes, and increases female labor force participation, primarily in occasional work. Given the context of the Philippines as a major migrant-sending country, we conduct a complementary event study which suggests that tower rollout may facilitate international labor migration and increase remittance flows to origin households.

Keywords: mobile internet; cell tower; wealth inequality; Philippines (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F14 J24 J63 L86 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 39 pages
Date: 2027-02-01
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Published in Journal of Development Economics, 1, February, 2027, 185. ISSN: 0304-3878

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