Yellow Pages: Information, connections and firm performance

Brian Dillon, Jenny C Aker and Joshua E Blumenstock

The Economic Journal, 2025, vol. 135, issue 670, 2067-2082

Abstract: We study the impact of a low-cost intervention to reduce information frictions in rural markets by randomly assigning small and medium enterprises in Tanzania to be listed in a telephone directory. The listed firms expand their communication networks, increase sales and make greater use of mobile money, with positive spillovers to firms in the same village. Estimated effects are larger and more statistically precise for firms that are more productive at baseline, consistent with consumers seeking out better firms when search costs fall. We find no evidence of negative between-village spillovers on unlisted firms.

Date: 2025
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