Ethnic digital divide? Evidence on mobile phone adoption

Heidi Kaila

Applied Economics, 2023, vol. 55, issue 22, 2536-2550

Abstract: Between 2006 and 2014, Vietnam experienced a true information technology revolution. In rural areas, mobile phone ownership increased from 18% to 89%. I use a panel dataset from this period to study the ‘digital divide’ between the ethnic majority group and ethnic minorities. I find that underprivileged ethnic minorities are lag behind in phone adoption. These differences are fully explained by standard factors of demand and by education level, that is, I do not find unobservable barriers in adoption. Analysis using spatial data on digital mobile network coverage reveals that infrastructure is also not a barrier to adoption, even in remote regions of Vietnam. Results are robust to alternative model specifications.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2022.2103502

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