Abstract

Most countries in the Middle East and Africa region (MEA) have recently witnessed digital improvements despite the increase in poverty rates. This thesis investigates the potential relationship of Information and Communication Technologies and poverty reduction using annual unbalanced panel data for 21 MENA countries and 48 Sub Saharan African (SSA) countries from 1990 to 2022. By focusing on two primary ICT indicators representing ICT usage and access—internet penetration and mobile subscriptions— our research applies Fixed-Effects Two Stage Least Square (2SLS) economic model to explore their relationship with the poverty headcount ratio at the $2.15 per day international poverty line. The 2SLS results suggest a significant, negative correlation between ICT and the poverty headcount ratio in MEA countries. In other words, an improvement in both the internet access and the mobile usage is associated with a significant decrease in the poverty headcount ratio, controlling for other variables. These results are robust to different estimation techniques.

School

School of Business

Department

Economics Department

Degree Name

MA in Economics

Graduation Date

Spring 6-12-2024

Submission Date

5-27-2024

First Advisor

Noha Omar

Committee Member 1

Dina Abdelfattah

Committee Member 2

Ismaeel Tharwat

Extent

60 p.

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Institutional Review Board (IRB) Approval

Not necessary for this item

Available for download on Tuesday, May 27, 2025

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