Political consequences of Africa's mobile revolution

• Department of Political and Social Sciences

This session of the Political Behaviour Colloquium features a presentation by PhD researcher Alex Yeandle (London School of Economics).

Mobile phone access has grown rapidly across Sub-Saharan Africa, providing millions with the ability to communicate quickly and cheaply with others. Yet we know little about how this connectivity shapes opinion in the continent's more remote areas, or the mechanisms driving such effects. I argue that mobile access gives rural households repeated exposure to their urban relatives. This provides information about the difficulties of city life, undermining perceptions of government competence and trust in state institutions. I first leverage the gradual expansion of mobile coverage across Africa, documenting negative shifts in public opinion between 1999 and 2015 in a staggered difference-in-difference setting. I then turn to Ghana to explore the causal mechanisms behind this result. Household panel data suggests that urban contact rises among rural households gaining access to a device, while evidence from focus group discussions and an original survey show that contact spreads negative information about city life. The paper paints a nuanced picture of Africa's mobile revolution, advancing literature on the political consequences of rapid connectivity.

The Zoom link will be sent upon registration. If you would like to receive the paper, please contact PoliticalBehaviour.Colloquium@eui.eu.