Connection leapfrog: The impact of 2G roll-out on employment outcomes for first-time connected regions

Marta Bernardi and Valentin Lindlacher

No 01/25, CEPIE Working Papers from Technische Universität Dresden, Center of Public and International Economics (CEPIE)

Abstract: For the developing world, instant connectivity was first established through the expansion of second-generation (2G) mobile networks. Leveraging exogenous variation in network disruptions induced by lightning strikes as an instrumental variable, we analyze panel data from 2,040 regions across 13 developing countries between 1990 and 2015. Our findings reveal economically meaningful increases in employment (approximately 32-43%), driven primarily by a shift from self-employment toward formal wage employment, notably within agriculture, coupled with substantial rises in unpaid labor among women.

Keywords: Mobile Coverage; Structural Transformation; Panel Inference; Technological Development; Micro Interventions; Aggregate Implications (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E24 E27 O12 O14 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:tudcep:324641

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