Mobile phones, digital inequality, and fertility: Longitudinal evidence from Malawi
<b>Background</b>: In this paper, we introduce the digital revolution as a potential ingredient of sub-Saharan Africa's fertility transition. <b>Objective</b>: We focus on the relationship between mobile phone ownership and childbearing in southern Malawi, showing tha...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research
2020-06-01
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| Series: | Demographic Research |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol42/37/ |
| _version_ | 1829113922443018240 |
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| author | Francesco Billari Valentina Rotondi Jenny Trinitapoli |
| author_facet | Francesco Billari Valentina Rotondi Jenny Trinitapoli |
| author_sort | Francesco Billari |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <b>Background</b>: In this paper, we introduce the digital revolution as a potential ingredient of sub-Saharan Africa's fertility transition. <b>Objective</b>: We focus on the relationship between mobile phone ownership and childbearing in southern Malawi, showing that mobile phone acquisition is associated with reductions in ideal family size and lower overall parity among phone-owning women compared to their phone-less counterparts. <b>Methods</b>: We use nine waves of data from the Tsogolo la Thanzi (TLT) longitudinal study conducted in Balaka, Malawi, between 2009 and 2015. <b>Results</b>: Fixed-effects panel data models shows that mobile phone ownership is associated with smaller ideal family size and lower parity during the study period. Cox proportional hazard models suggest that mobile phones are not fundamentally associated with the timing of women's first steps in family formation but rather with fertility trajectories on a longer time-horizon through child spacing. Furthermore, complementary cross-sectional analyses from a later survey round suggest that mobile phone ownership is associated with fertility through role modeling, preference change, and access to information. <b>Conclusions</b>: Mobile phone ownership is associated with fertility via role modeling, preference change, and access to information rather than through substitution effects. <b>Contribution</b>: Bridging the digital divide may hasten the fertility transition in sub-Saharan Africa. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-12T15:46:51Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c41f3c6939a34023844f7edc47e96a1a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1435-9871 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-12T15:46:51Z |
| publishDate | 2020-06-01 |
| publisher | Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Demographic Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-c41f3c6939a34023844f7edc47e96a1a2022-12-22T00:19:45ZengMax Planck Institute for Demographic ResearchDemographic Research1435-98712020-06-01423710.4054/DemRes.2020.42.374364Mobile phones, digital inequality, and fertility: Longitudinal evidence from MalawiFrancesco Billari0Valentina Rotondi1Jenny Trinitapoli2Bocconi UniversityUniversity of OxfordUniversity of Chicago<b>Background</b>: In this paper, we introduce the digital revolution as a potential ingredient of sub-Saharan Africa's fertility transition. <b>Objective</b>: We focus on the relationship between mobile phone ownership and childbearing in southern Malawi, showing that mobile phone acquisition is associated with reductions in ideal family size and lower overall parity among phone-owning women compared to their phone-less counterparts. <b>Methods</b>: We use nine waves of data from the Tsogolo la Thanzi (TLT) longitudinal study conducted in Balaka, Malawi, between 2009 and 2015. <b>Results</b>: Fixed-effects panel data models shows that mobile phone ownership is associated with smaller ideal family size and lower parity during the study period. Cox proportional hazard models suggest that mobile phones are not fundamentally associated with the timing of women's first steps in family formation but rather with fertility trajectories on a longer time-horizon through child spacing. Furthermore, complementary cross-sectional analyses from a later survey round suggest that mobile phone ownership is associated with fertility through role modeling, preference change, and access to information. <b>Conclusions</b>: Mobile phone ownership is associated with fertility via role modeling, preference change, and access to information rather than through substitution effects. <b>Contribution</b>: Bridging the digital divide may hasten the fertility transition in sub-Saharan Africa.https://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol42/37/digital dividefertility transitionmobile phonessocial interaction |
| spellingShingle | Francesco Billari Valentina Rotondi Jenny Trinitapoli Mobile phones, digital inequality, and fertility: Longitudinal evidence from Malawi Demographic Research digital divide fertility transition mobile phones social interaction |
| title | Mobile phones, digital inequality, and fertility: Longitudinal evidence from Malawi |
| title_full | Mobile phones, digital inequality, and fertility: Longitudinal evidence from Malawi |
| title_fullStr | Mobile phones, digital inequality, and fertility: Longitudinal evidence from Malawi |
| title_full_unstemmed | Mobile phones, digital inequality, and fertility: Longitudinal evidence from Malawi |
| title_short | Mobile phones, digital inequality, and fertility: Longitudinal evidence from Malawi |
| title_sort | mobile phones digital inequality and fertility longitudinal evidence from malawi |
| topic | digital divide fertility transition mobile phones social interaction |
| url | https://www.demographic-research.org/volumes/vol42/37/ |
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