Presentation of the article "From phone access to food markets: How mobile connectivity is transforming rural livelihoods in West Africa"

↪ Published in May 2024, the study 'From Phone Access to Food Markets: Is Mobile Connectivity Transforming West-African Livelihoods?' highlights the role of food demand in explaining price variations. The results show that mobile connectivity not only increases the quantities of food products bought and consumed but also reduces the self-consumption of connected rural households. Financial inclusion through the adoption of mobile money and income diversification through non-agricultural activities are identified as key mechanisms explaining the increase in food demand.

↪ The results suggest that the reduction in food price dispersion linked to access to mobile networks reflects broader rural transformations, rather than a simple improvement in decision-making by better-informed suppliers, challenging dominant claims in existing literature.