Abstract:
While mobile internet diffusion in the last decade has led to significant growth and improvements in household income and employment, much less has been studied on education attainment outcomes, which matter especially for developing countries’ human capital policies for development catch-up. In this paper, we find that 3G internet diffusion improves lower-secondary school attainment but discourages upper-secondary achievement of youth in Viet Nam. We rationalize these findings through an education – employment tradeoff perspective by considering the opportunity costs of schooling vis `a vis employment. We show that the diffusion of fast mobile broadband internet is associated with more job opportunities and reduced returns to schooling during the period 2012-2016 following fast diffusion. Our results offer implications for developing countries’ education and human capital development policies in the age of (mobile) digitalization.
Keywords: Mobile internet, Educational attainment, Youth, Opportunity cost, Viet Nam.
Abstract:
New developments of existing technologies over time have led to emergent patterns of technology adoption and, accordingly, changing impacts on economy and society. Focusing on the arrival of mobile internet in the early 2010s in developing countries, this paper identifies significant positive effects on provinces’ average household income in Viet Nam. The effect sizes are larger for lower-income quintiles and for rural areas, suggesting the more inclusive changing impact of the innovation over the last decade. Preliminary evidence of impact mechanisms via skilled employment rates and (formal) wages is also presented. The evidence from Viet Nam, a lower-middle-income country, can bring further understanding in terms of the extent of development impacts of second-generation mobile for development (M4D 2.0) in particular and information and communication technologies for development (ICT4D) in general.
Abstract:
The arrival and development of digital technologies (e.g. the internet, personal computer) including mobile ones (e.g. smartphones) in recent years have raised both support for and concerns about the effects of adoption and usage on learning outcomes. The arguments come from different educational stakeholders including parents, educators, practitioners, policy makers, and learners themselves. On the one hand, those in favor argue for increasing opportunities to learn (OtL) or seamless learning thanks to the mobility and multifunctionality of mobile internet devices. On the other hand, those against attest to multitasking, task switching, and rising social media or entertainment addiction phenomena as detrimental. With evidence from Vietnam, this paper contributes to the scant literature of net effect of digital devices use, and identified insignificant effect of smartphone use on Math and reading comprehension test scores while positive results of internet and computer access, using linear regressions and Lewbel instrumental variable methods. The results can be explained by the significantly positive effects of internet use for exam samples searching while negative effect of internet use for social networking, which is one among many online platforms competing for attention in the attention economy era. Our results shed light on the intricacy of mobile internet use's effects for upper-secondary school students' key learning outcomes, and offer some recommendations for educational practitioners.
Abstract:
This paper estimates the impact of internet access on youth's mental health problems and well-being, using instrumental variable estimation approach and panel fixed effects models for data in Ethiopia during the COVID-19 period. The results offer robust evidence of the internet's significant positive effect on adolescents' mental health problems and negative effect on subjective well-being, showing larger effect magnitudes compared to correlational models. Our heterogeneity analysis reveals the unequal effects of internet access on mental health, particularly for adolescents from lower-wealth households, with suggestive evidence indicating the passive use pattern of internet, of which youth from less advantaged socioeconomic background face a stronger impact. The study highlights the significance of social causes on mental health and offers implications for policies on internet and youth's human capital.
Keywords: Internet, Youth, Mental health, Well-being, Inequality.
Abstract:
Using state-of-the-art instrumental variable and panel fixed-effects estimation approach, this paper detects positive impacts of mobile internet's fast diffusion on shares of female self-employment in Viet Nam. The effects are particularly significant for the hospitality and information and communication industries. There are also notable improvements in provincial shares of females working as leaders/ managers, especially in small organizations. Mechanism analysis suggests that improved infrastructure, including increased household loans and road length, serve as pathways channeling enhanced female entrepreneurship in Viet Nam during 2010-2016. Our results contribute to the scant quantitative evidence of digital technology and feminism, particularly mobile internet, a general purpose technology, as an empowering tool for female entrepreneurship, given its fast diffusion in developing countries context.
Keywords: Mobile internet, female self-employment, general purpose technology, developing countries, Viet Nam.
This paper studies the individual impacts of trade openness and institutional quality as well as their interactive effects on economic development in Southeast Asian countries. The research confirms many theoretical reviews and empirical findings that both trade openness and good institutional quality positively affect income. Moreover, there exists an interaction between trade openness and the quality of institutions to affect economic development, though the signs of effects can be positive and significant or not depending on distinct good governance indicators, which are proxies for institutional quality. The results propose some implications for ASEAN countries under its regional and global integration in trade as well as governance policies so as to continue to achieve higher economic development.
http://hdl.handle.net/10356/69833