Mobile data prices in many Sub-Saharan Africa countries far exceed the UN Broadband Commission’s 2\%-of-GNI affordability target, and these high prices persist alongside some of the world’s poorest electricity infrastructure. This paper quantifies the impact of electricity infrastructure on mobile service prices in Sub-Saharan Africa. Inadequate electricity infrastructure can reduce demand, raise marginal costs, increase fixed entry costs, and limit competition in the mobile network industry. Using a structural model of entry and Cournot competition, I identify the key supply and demand parameters in the mobile network industry. Counterfactual simulations show that achieving universal electricity access would reduce mobile service prices by an average of approximately 42\% across Sub-Saharan African countries, primarily by lowering fixed and marginal costs and enabling greater firm entry. For comparison, improving ICT regulation and increasing market size have limited effects on prices, though both contribute to better service quality. The results point to strong complementarities between electricity and telecom infrastructure, where deficiencies in the former significantly limit the potential of the latter.
Small businesses in emerging markets continue to face persistent barriers to accessing formal sources of credit. Marketplace platforms have increasingly stepped in to address this problem by lending to their participating sellers, yet the drivers behind this phenomenon remain insufficiently explored. Existing explanations typically highlight platforms’ information advantages and lighter regulatory constraints compared to traditional banks. This study develops a theoretical framework to investigate two less-examined drivers of provision of credit by these platforms. First, the alignment of interests between platforms and sellers, driven by commission-based revenue models, incentivizes market expansion. Second, the use of platforms’ virtual spaces as intangible collateral, alongside the threat of exclusion, provides an effective mechanism for enforcing repayment. The model shows that these mechanisms are particularly pronounced in economies with weak contract enforcement and high banking interest rate spreads—conditions frequently observed in developing countries. Empirical evidence supports the predictions of the theoretical model, providing valuable insights for policymakers seeking innovative strategies to enhance financial inclusion in developing countries.
This study examines the effects of access to a local ride-sharing platform, widely adopted in Iran, on Iranian households. Using the labour Force Survey as well as the Households Income and Expenditure Survey, we leverage the variation in the timing of this platform's introduction across different cities to study its impact on various income, expenditure, and labour variables. Our findings suggest that access to this platform has a significant impact on households’ employment, occupational choice, income and expenditure only in big cities, underscoring the relevance of network effects. Notably, while there has been a rise in households' net income in big cities, there's been a simultaneous decrease in the share of the public wage and social security benefits. This shift indicates a reduced attractiveness of employment in the public sector and a rise in the number of jobs without social security benefits, a concern associated with the growth of the gig economy.