From Phone Access to Food Markets: Is Mobile Connectivity Transforming West-African Livelihoods ?

This paper shows that mobile connectivity transforms household livelihoods in ways that foster food market integration in WAEMU countries. Using cross-sectional data on nearly 60,000 households and 146 food products traded across 5,000 enumeration areas in eight member states (2018–2019), the authors combine dyadic and instrumental-variable estimations to identify a demand-led process of spatial food price integration. Dyadic results show that connectivity operates through a spatially layered mechanism: supply-side arbitrage dominates across distant markets and for perishable products, while at local scales price convergence takes the form of a rural–urban catch-up, indicating demand-side adjustments. Household-level analysis supports this mechanism, showing that mobile ownership in covered rural areas increases food purchases and reduces self-consumption, driven by mobile money use and diversification into non-agricultural activities. However, non-adopters in the same locations reduce spending, suggesting negative externalities from higher local prices and limited income gains, and hence heterogeneous welfare effects of connectivity.