Doctoral Dissertation Research: Mobile Phone Distribution and Food Security

In this project, variation and patterns in mobile phone access are investigated and the effect of mobile phone access on global food security over the last 20 years is assessed. Policy initiatives have proliferated under the assumption that mobile phones have the ability to foster improvements in development sectors, particularly in subsistence agriculture (by, for example, allowing farmers to check weather forecasts). However, there has been little cross-national empirical research investigating whether mobile phones in aggregate contribute to development outcomes. If mobile phones contribute to agrarian sector development in the way that policy narratives and case studies suggest, their distribution should have positive impacts on global food security across-countries and over time. Findings from this study will contribute to public welfare and security by testing the assumption underlying the promise of mobile phones as a development tool. Building on case study findings that find support for the economic, political, health, and educational benefits of access to newer information and communication technologies, this project uses a quantitative cross-national comparative research design to explain patterns of mobile phone distribution and access. It subsequently assesses the role of the distribution of mobile phone access in contributing to one central development outcome, food security. Data come from the International Telecommunications Union, supplemented with data from other sources. These data are analyzed using appropriate statistical methods. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.