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Access to Telephone Services and Household Income in Poor Rural Areas Using a Quasi‐natural Experiment for Peru

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  • ALBERTO CHONG
  • VIRGILIO GALDO
  • MÁXIMO TORERO

Abstract

We take advantage of a quasi‐natural experiment in Peru in which a privatized telecommunications company was required by the government to randomly install and operate public pay phones in small rural towns throughout the country. Using an especially designed household survey for a representative sample of rural towns, we are able to link access to telephone services with household income. We find that, regardless of income measurement, most characteristics of public telephone use are positively linked with income. Remarkably, the benefits are given at both non‐farm and farm income levels. The findings hold when using propensity score matching methods.

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  • Alberto Chong & Virgilio Galdo & Máximo Torero, 2009. "Access to Telephone Services and Household Income in Poor Rural Areas Using a Quasi‐natural Experiment for Peru," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 76(304), pages 623-648, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:econom:v:76:y:2009:i:304:p:623-648
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0335.2008.00735.x
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    2. Antonio Estache, 2010. "A survey of impact evaluations of infrastructure projects, programs and policies," Working Papers ECARES 2010_005, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    3. Sarkar, Kalyan & Deb, Sujit & Hazari, Sujoy, 2022. "The Impact of ICT on Rural Livelihood of Farmers in West Bengal, India," AGRIS on-line Papers in Economics and Informatics, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Faculty of Economics and Management, vol. 14(4), December.
    4. Díaz-Bonilla, Eugenio, 2015. "Lost in translation: The fractured conversation about trade and food security:," IFPRI discussion papers 1490, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    5. Insa Flachsbarth & Simone Schotte & Jann Lay & Alberto Garrido, 2018. "Rural structural change, poverty and income distribution: evidence from Peru," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 16(4), pages 631-653, December.
    6. Srinuan, Chalita, 2014. "Uncertainty of public pay phone in Thailand: Implications for the universal service obligation," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(8), pages 730-740.

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