Young People and the Digital Divide in Egypt Mona Farid Badran* Faculty of Economics and Political Science Cairo University, Egypt Antonio R. Andrés S h l fB i School of Business Administration Ad i i i Al Akhawayn University Ifrane 53000 Morocco
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Young People and the Digital Divide in Egypt Badran & Andres
OUTLINE II. OBJECTIVE & SUMMARY OBJECTIVE & SUMMARY II. MOTIVATION III. THE CONCEPT OF DIGITAL DIVIDE THE CONCEPT OF DIGITAL DIVIDE IV. LITERATURE REVIEW V. THE DIGITAL DIVIDE INDEX VI. DATA VII. EMPIRICAL MODEL VIII. RESULTS IX. CONCLUSIONS & POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS
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Young People and the Digital Divide in Egypt Badran & Andres
OBJECTIVE
9 The aim of this paper is to provide an empirical h f h d l evidence of the digital divide level in terms of use and access of ICTs in Egypt between urban and rural and access of ICTs in Egypt between urban and rural regions. 9 Other innovative elements tackled by the paper Other innovative elements tackled by the paper include the following:
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¾ The construction of the ICT composite index for Egypt, namely the digital divide index measuring the urban/ rural digital divide among young people in Egypt based on the SYPE survey. ¾ Determining the proper variables and weights with which to combine original variables is a challenge within the context of building up ICT indices. To our knowledge, there are no other papers using micro level data about the access or use of ICTs for Egypt or constructing a composite index of digital divide. i i d f di i l di id ¾ Measuring the DD using the PCA index and pinpointing the type of Young People and the Digital Divide in Egypt association between urbanization and the DD in Egypt. Badran & Andres
SUMMARY o We provide empirical evidence an urban‐rural digital divide. o As we can see, a concentration of information flows to urban and central areas and thus a bigger digital divide in rural areas. o Urbanization plays a key role in the DD existing in Egypt among the young people.( Due to proximity, economic and social externalities, etc. (Chi and Liu 2003) o The current research also provides appropriate policy h h l d i li recommendations, on how to close this inequality between urban and rural areas in Egypt especially in ICT between urban and rural areas in Egypt, especially in ICT adoption. Young People and the Digital Divide in 4
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Some Demographic Stylized Facts Some Demographic Stylized Facts
It is worth mentioning that of the total population of Egypt , about 57.2 % lives in rural Young People and the Digital Divide in areas. (WB 2011) Egypt 5 Badran & Andres
MOTIVATION OF THE STUDY MOTIVATION OF THE STUDY • Remarkable, In Egypt, young people are not only its most important capital but they also constitute the most important capital, but they also constitute the largest share of the population. • According to the 2006 national census, approximately According to the 2006 national census approximately 40% of Egyptians are between the ages of 10 and 29. With the right investments, this youth bulge g , y g will represent a demographic opportunity that will positively shape the country’s future. • This is referred to as the demographic dividend, where young people need to be empowered with skills and education to meet the needs of a demanding job Young People and the Digital Divide in Egypt 6 market. Badran & Andres
MOTIVATION OF THE STUDY , cont. • Little Little empirical research empirical research has addressed young has addressed young people in relation to the digital divide in Egypt. • Furthermore, primary analysis of the data Furthermore primary analysis of the data obtained from SYPE survey emphasizes the existence of rural urban divide existence of rural‐urban divide. • The present research examines the source of i inequalities in the use and access of ICT of li i i h d f f young people in Egypt. 7
Young People and the Digital Divide in Egypt Badran & Andres
MOTIVATION OF THE STUDY , cont. • The idea is to examine inequalities by its d determinants i such as age, gender, and h d d urbanization in relation to the access and use of the Internet. We focus on individuals who f h I W f i di id l h are 10‐29 years old.
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Young People and the Digital Divide in Egypt Badran & Andres
MOTIVATION OF THE STUDY , cont. • A A critical motivation of the present study is critical motivation of the present study is the importance of including the young population especially rural youth within the population especially rural youth within the knowledge‐ based economy context.”social inclusion”, which leads to promoting inclusive inclusion which leads to promoting inclusive growth” • This is important given the fact that most of This is important given the fact that most of the young people reside either in Lower Egypt (42 6 %) or Upper Egypt (34 2%) while urban (42.6 %) or Upper Egypt (34.2%), while urban governorates contain only 21.4% of young people 9
Young People and the Digital Divide in Egypt Badran & Andres
MOTIVATION OF THE STUDY , cont. • ICT ICT can be used as a useful tool for the social can be used as a useful tool for the social inclusion of the young generation into the knowledge based economy knowledge based economy. • Thus, measuring the digital divide and examining if urbanization is a factor in the DD examining if urbanization is a factor in the DD in Egypt is an important contribution, given that we are aiming at establishing a that we are aiming at establishing a knowledge‐ based economy. 10
Young People and the Digital Divide in Egypt Badran & Andres
THE CONCEPT OF DIGITAL DIVIDE THE CONCEPT OF DIGITAL DIVIDE • The digital divide is defined as the gap g g p between those with a permanent, effective access to new (ICTs) and those with no access to new(ICTs) (e.g. Hoffman & Novak, 2000; Rice and Katz 2003; Fairlie 2004; Andonova 2006; Chinn & Fairlie Katz, 2003; Fairlie, 2004; Andonova, 2006; Chinn & Fairlie, 2007). • There might be other important dimensions of the digital divide such as gender, and urban/rural communities. The OECD (2001) define the digital divide as ‘‘the gap between individuals households businesses and geographic areas at individuals, households, businesses and geographic areas at different socio‐economic levels with regard both to their opportunities to access information and communication t h l i technologies and to their use of the Internet for a wide variety d t th i f th I t tf id i t of activities’’ Young People and the Digital Divide in 11
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THE CONCEPT OF DIGITAL DIVIDE (cont.) • Digital divide is a new phenomenon emerging with the g p g g development of the information and communication technologies. • More and more attention is given to the final users, whether individuals or households, and to the drivers of the various ICT technologies. f h i ICT h l i • ICT sectors have been growing faster than other sectors. Indeed, ICT services have been growing t I d d ICT i h b i even faster, particularly personal computers and related services. 12
Young People and the Digital Divide in Egypt Badran & Andres
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Young People and the Digital Divide in Egypt Badran & Andres
THE CONCEPT OF DIGITAL DIVIDE, cont. • Disparities Disparities in ICTs diffusion may play a critical role in in ICTs diffusion may play a critical role in the diffusion of knowledge, levels of political engagement, as well as on economic growth. • This gap in ICT diffusion is found not only across different countries, but within the same country, namely between urban and rural areas ‐ (in Sub‐Saharan African countries, the digital divide between urban and rural areas is even greater than in between urban and rural areas is even greater than in the rest of the world).
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Young People and the Digital Divide in Egypt Badran & Andres
THE CONCEPT OF DIGITAL DIVIDE, cont. – Often over 75 percent of the country’s telephone lines are concentrated in the capital city and irregular or non‐existent di h i l i di l i electricity supplies are a common feature and a major barrier to the use of ICT, especially outside the major towns. Caveats in the definition of the DD: – Bertot (2002) and Vehovar et al. (2006) argue that the digital divide should not be seen only in binary terms: i.e., someone either has access to an ICT or not, someone either uses it or not. – The bottom line is that the digital gap or digital inequality has almost always measured accounting for a single ICT and the wider dimensions of this concept has been neglected. id di i f thi th b l t d 15
Young People and the Digital Divide in Egypt Badran & Andres
THE CONCEPT OF DIGITAL DIVIDE, cont. • Previous Previous research has focused on single research has focused on single measures as proxy of the digital level of countries such as computer per 1000 countries, such as computer per 1000 inhabitants or Internet users, and only a few have made use or have constructed have made use or have constructed composite measures or indices to proxy digital level as well as the digital gap (for instance level as well as the digital gap (for instance, Hüsing and Selhofer, 2002). • 16
Young People and the Digital Divide in Egypt Badran & Andres
THE CONCEPT OF DIGITAL DIVIDE, cont. • Our Our digital divide index is constructed from digital divide index is constructed from the questions in survey available SYPE, addressed to young individuals about addressed to young individuals about –Internet use and its access, –mobile phones and bil h d –fixed line phones, –personal computers and laptops.
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Young People and the Digital Divide in Egypt Badran & Andres
LITERATURE REVIEW • In the outset, the definition of the digital divide (henceforth DD) has created a great debate among (henceforth, DD) has created a great debate among economists and policy makers. • Hilbert (2011), relying on the theory of diffusion of Hilbert (2011) relying on the theory of diffusion of innovations, suggests that the impacts of ICTs are diverse, the definitions of the DD are too. , • It is subjective and depends on what is aspired to achieve. Thus, the definition is conditioned on the "desired impact" (digital citizens vs computer literate citizens) 18
Young People and the Digital Divide in Egypt Badran & Andres
LITERATURE REVIEW, cont. LITERATURE REVIEW, cont. • A recent study that of Billion et al. (2009) introduced a single model to investigate the relationships between several ICTs and a wide range of explanatory variables. They came to the conclusion by using canonical correlation analysis( maximizes conclusion by using canonical correlation analysis( maximizes correlation among variables) , that in countries registering higher levels of ICT adoption ( developed countries), the digitalization pattern is explained by GDP service sector digitalization pattern is explained by GDP, service sector, education and governmental effectiveness. • In contrast, in developing countries, population age , p g ,p p g and urban population are positively associated with ICT adoption, while internet costs are negatively correlated with ICT adoption. adoption 19
Young People and the Digital Divide in Egypt Badran & Andres
LITERATURE REVIEW, cont. LITERATURE REVIEW, cont. • These findings are quite relevant to the present study as similar results were obtained in terms of the study as similar results were obtained in terms of the young age and urban youth have a positive impact on the constructed DD index. • More recently, another study by Al Hammadany (2011) examined the determinants of the use and non‐use of internet in Iraq by using a multinominal logit model, and reached the conclusion that human d l development and human capital, institutional and t dh it l i tit ti l d legal environment, existing technologies, govern‐ ment polic making and income levels influence the ment policy makin and income le els infl en e the Young People and the Digital Divide in internet accessibility in Iraq. Egypt 20 Badran & Andres
DATA: SYPE Survey DATA: SYPE Survey • The 2009 “Survey of Young People in Egypt” conducted by the Population Council and the IDSC conducted by the Population Council and the IDSC, builds upon the ASCE survey (Social and Health Status and Educational Achievement of Adolescents Status and Educational Achievement of Adolescents in Egypt (1998) from the previous decade. • SYPE focuses on the key life transitions for youth: y y health, education, employment and livelihood, family formation, civic participation and time use. • The survey covers a nationally representative sample of 15,029 young people aged 10‐29. 21
Young People and the Digital Divide in Egypt Badran & Andres
SYPE SURVEY , cont… SYPE SURVEY , cont… • The The young population is primarily rural. About young population is primarily rural About two‐thirds of young people (58.9percent ) have rural residence while the remainder have rural residence, while the remainder third lives in urban areas (31.6 percent ) or informal urban areas (5 6percent ) informal urban areas (5.6percent ). • The SYPE asked young people what they use the internet for who introduced them to it the internet for, who introduced them to it, and where they use the internet. The content of the questionnaire can be summarized as of the questionnaire can be summarized as follows: 22
Young People and the Digital Divide in Egypt Badran & Andres
SYPE SURVEY , cont… SYPE SURVEY , cont… • Item Item 1: Do you have access to the internet at 1: Do you have access to the internet at home/ Internet cafe/ School/ Youth center/ Club/ Friends/ At work? Club/ Friends/ At work? • Item 2: Your household has Laptop? Your household has Computer? Your household has household has Computer? Your household has telephone? How acquire skill: Computer courses/programs? Do you use a computer in courses/programs? Do you use a computer in your work? Do you use the internet? 23
Young People and the Digital Divide in Egypt Badran & Andres
SYPE SURVEY , cont… SYPE SURVEY , cont… • Have Have you used a regular phone in job you used a regular phone in job‐hunting? hunting? Have Have you used a mobile phone in job‐hunting? Have you used the internet in job‐hunting? Sources to learn: Internet, e‐mails, blogs? Were you involved in Internet use during the last week? Personally own: T l h Telephone? Personally own: Mobile telephone? ?P ll M bil t l h ? Personally own: Desktop computer? Personally own: Laptop computer? Personally own: MP3/MP4/IPod? Laptop computer? Personally own: MP3/MP4/IPod? Do you own a mobile telephone?
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Young People and the Digital Divide in Egypt Badran & Andres
STYLIZED FACTS FROM THE SURVEY • In today’s world, young people worldwide are increasingly using the internet for social networking. i h i f i l ki (11mln accounts of Facebook in Egypt, tripled after the revolution with 75% under age of 30)
• Only 7.5% of young people use the internet. Young people use the internet primarily for general knowledge and social networking purposes. • Browsing for general knowledge, chatting with friends and in Browsing for general knowledge chatting with friends and in chat rooms and checking email are the three most popular uses for the internet by around a third of young people using the internet. h • A quarter of young people use it for entertainment (downloading music and movies) Around 20% of the internet‐ (downloading music and movies). Around 20% of the internet using young people also use it for educational purposes, and Young People and the Digital Divide in Egypt 25 45% for general knowledge. Badran & Andres
Uses of the internet, among those young people who use the internet ages 10‐29 Egypt 2009 use the internet, ages 10‐29, Egypt 2009
STYLIZED FACTS FROM THE SURVEY, cont… • The The vast majority of young people (60%) who use the vast majority of young people (60%) who use the internet were introduced to it by their friends. • Teachers introduced 13.1% of young people users to the internet and 11.2% discovered it on their own. • Young Young people primarily use either the internet at people primarily use either the internet at home (52.6%) or in an internet café (51.0%). School and youth centers use is very low. 27
Young People and the Digital Divide in Egypt Badran & Andres
Who introduced young people to the internet, among internet‐using young people, ages 10‐29, Egypt 2009
Where young people use the internet, among te et us g you g peop e, ages 0 9 internet using young people, ages 10‐29
THE DIGITAL DIVIDE INDEX THE DIGITAL DIVIDE INDEX • Popular ICT indices include for example the Information Society index (IDC, 1995) and the Digital Access index (ITU, 2003), and ( , ) g ( , ), more recently the ICT Development Index (IDI) by the ITU. • We construct a composite index of the digital divide in young population in Egypt in the spirit of DiMaggio & Hartai (2004) l ti i E t i th i it f DiM i & H t i (2004) who claim that binary divide fails to value the social resources of diverse groups in many fields. • Those indices are related to access to information communication technologies such as mobile, fixed phone, and Internet. Internet • Hüsing & Selhofer (2002) call the attention to one important factor when constructing a digital divide index. 30
Young People and the Digital Divide in Egypt Badran & Andres
THE DIGITAL DIVIDE INDEX THE DIGITAL DIVIDE INDEX • They state that “the selection of indicators necessarily reflects what is conceived as state‐of‐the‐art what is conceived as state of the art technology in the technology in the research context. • If, for example the digital divide in developing countries is analyzed, it probably makes sense to include more traditional telecommunications indicators (e.g. access to a telephone at ) home).” • To this extent, our index includes both use of and access to four types ICTs: fixed and mobile phone, Internet, and PC ownership. • For each respondent, we add his/her response to the questions above mentioned and normalize it to one. The Digital Divide index will be constructed using the principle component index will be constructed using the principle component analysis technique. 31
Young People and the Digital Divide in Egypt Badran & Andres
The natural cut –offs in the PCA index:
2
Group 2 between ‐1 and 0.7
less than ‐1
Group 4 greater than 3.5
.5
1
Group 3 between 0.7 and 3.5
0
Density
1.5
Group 1
0
5
10 ICT_Index_PCA_new
15
20
DD Index groups
Number of observations (Not weighted) Percent 6,796
45.22
1 138 1,138
7 57 7.57
3,802
25.3
3,293
21.91
15,029
100
- ∞ to -1 1
to
-0.7 0.7 to 3.5
-0.7 3.5
to + ∞ Total
EMPIRICAL MODEL EMPIRICAL MODEL • Ordered discrete choice models are commonly used for modeling categorical response variables that represent groups of continuous variables with an explicit ordering (see Greene, 1997). • The application of these models can be extended to categorical variables pp g that have an “assessed” order, in our case, the intensity and frequency of use of Internet. p y p y g • Ordered probit analyses are prevalent in the study of the digital divide. The use of Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) with an ordinal dependent variable may lead to misleading results. p y pp • The ordered probit model is based on a latent variable y* which is mapped into the observed variable y. The latent variable ranges from ‐∞ to ∞. • The idea is that the observed dependent variable is based on an underlying latent variable. 34
Young People and the Digital Divide in Egypt Badran & Andres
EMPIRICAL MODEL EMPIRICAL MODEL The dependent variable: The Digital Divide Index (rural appended with Urban ) The explanatory variables include: 5 wealth quantiles (dummy), 8 education (dummy ), g ( y) 2 gender (dummy), 2 urban/rural (dummy), 4 age groups (dummy), 6 metropolitan areas (6 regions: 6 metropolitan areas (6 regions: 1. Urban Govs ( Giza, Cairo, Alex) 2. Urban_Lower_Egypt 3. Rural_Lower_Egypt 4. Urban_Upper_Egypt pp _Egypt gyp 5 Rural_Upper 6 Frontier_Govs) . 35
Young People and the Digital Divide in Egypt Badran & Andres
EMPIRICAL MODEL EMPIRICAL MODEL yi* = a0 + α1 xi + ui
In equation (1) the unknown variable is the digital divide intensity (yi*) that derives from the PCA analysis on 24 items, the a0 is the constant term xi are the exogenous variables, all binary – are the exogenous variables all binary gender, age group, gender age group wealth split into five quintiles, and education levels, and our variable of interest the degree of urbanization variable. These variables are used to predict the probabilities . ui represents the classical error term that follows a standard normal distribution. The αs are the regression parameters to be estimated. g p A cross sectional analysis is used to estimate these models using the maximum likelihood estimation method.
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Young People and the Digital Divide in Egypt Badran & Andres
EMPIRICAL RESULTS, cont. EMPIRICAL RESULTS, cont. • The results obtained from the ordered probit reveal that p relative to the illiterate category, all levels of education indicate a positive association with the digital divide index, except for the read and write level of education except for the read and write level of education. • With regards to gender, there is a negative association g g , g between females and the digital divide index. • As to the age explanatory variable, we find that compared to the reference category age (10‐14), all age groups have positive association with the digital divide. positive association with the digital divide. 37
Young People and the Digital Divide in Egypt Badran & Andres
EMPIRICAL RESULTS, cont. EMPIRICAL RESULTS, cont. • Relative Relative to the urban governorates in Egypt, to the urban governorates in Egypt all other metropolitan regions, which include upper urban Egypt rural upper Egypt and upper urban Egypt, rural upper Egypt and frontier governorates, have all negative association with the digital divide index association with the digital divide index. • On the other hand, both the wealth quantiles (level of income) and the urban rural have all (level of income), and the urban rural have all positive association with the digital divide index. index 38
Young People and the Digital Divide in Egypt Badran & Andres
EMPIRICAL RESULTS, cont. EMPIRICAL RESULTS, cont. • The urbanization explanatory variable is of special interest, the positive association with the digital divide indicates that the positive association with the digital divide indicates that the digital divide is low in urban area, where the ICT use and access is higher compared to rural areas. and access is higher compared to rural areas. • This is consistent with a priori expectations of positive association between internet penetration rates and p urbanization (Chi and Liu2003), especially in developing countries (Billion et al 2009). • The estimated thresholds are statistically significant indicating that the ordered probit model with three natural cut –offs is highly appropriate. 39
Young People and the Digital Divide in Egypt Badran & Andres
Table 2 Estimate of the Ordered Probit Model Variable wealth_2 wealth_3 wealth_4 wealth_5 educ2 2 educ2_2 educ2_3 educ2_4 educ2_5 educ2_6 educ2_7 educ2_8 sex 2 sex_2 urban_2 agegrp_2 agegrp_3 agegrp_4 Metro_re~2 Metro_re~3 Metro_re~4 Metro_re~5 Metro_re~6
Coef. 0.523331 1.072124 1.393494 2.115631 0.019703 0.278528 0.422551 1.163233 0.595497 0.901253 1.203309 -0.52722 0 52722 1.172418 0.242616 0.318857 0.366125 -0.26314 -0.22636 -0.10334 -0.01682 -0.45364
Std. Error 0.033457 0.03365 0.037099 0.042293 0.062327 0.051982 0.051212 0.057583 0.048504 0.086337 0.059563 0 019977 0.019977 0.158648 0.042575 0.043021 0.045021 0.036275 0.160342 0.043564 0.160522 0.105708
/cut1 /cut2 /cut3
1.761422 2.006245 2.986312
0.068356 0.068695 0.070371
P>z 0 0 0 0 0.752 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.158 0.018 0.917 0
Reset test: 1.57 [p value = 0.209] Number of Observations = 15029 Likelihood Ratio (zero slope) = 6877.14 [p‐value = 0.000] Log likelihood value = ‐ 15174.073 Pseudo R‐squared = 0.1847
INTEPRETATION OF COEFFICIENTS INTEPRETATION OF COEFFICIENTS • The direct interpretation of the parameter estimates (probabilities) is not possible given the probit transformation of the dependent variable required for model estimation (Hammandany, 2011). • The next step is to compute the marginal effects. Looking at the The next step is to compute the marginal effects Looking at the marginal effects, at the first cut off where y=1, being in urban area compared to rural area decreases the average probability of DD index by 0.4 however, moving to the rest of the cut offs f i d b 0 h i h f h ff we observe that all increase the average probability of DD index. • Thus the overall impact of urban area compared to rural area on the probability of DD index is positive, namely 0.003, 0.18, 0 25 respectively and as evident in the ordered probit 0.25, respectively, and as evident in the ordered probit qualitative results. Young People and the Digital Divide in 41
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Impact of Urbanization on DD index Outcome 1 2 3 4 Sum of the Marginal Probabilities
Marginal effect -0.439 0.0003 0.1814 0.258 ≈0
ROBUSTNESS CHECKS ROBUSTNESS CHECKS • There There is little consensus in the literature on the is little consensus in the literature on the additional determinants of the digital divide. • We tackle this issue by employing the Extreme Bound y p y g Analysis (henceforth, EBA) as proposed by Leamer (1983). • This analysis allows us to examine whether the variables of interest (urbanization) are robust to independent variables of which additional set of explanatory variables are included in the empirical specification. specification 43
Young People and the Digital Divide in Egypt Badran & Andres
ROBUSTNESS CHECKS, cont. ROBUSTNESS CHECKS, cont. • To test whether urbanization influences the digital divide index, if other variables are included, the EBA method is applied here. • The extreme bound test as in Leamer (1983) y for variable U says that if the lower extreme bound (the lowest value of minus two g standard deviations) is negative while the upper extreme bound (the highest value for plus two standard deviations) is positive, the variable U is not robustly related to Y. 44
Young People and the Digital Divide in Egypt Badran & Andres
ROBUSTNESS CHECKS, cont. ROBUSTNESS CHECKS, cont. • In In practice, one should run regressions with all practice one should run regressions with all possible combinations of explanatory variables to determine whether the variables to determine whether the coefficients change when changing the composition of the set of the explanatory composition of the set of the explanatory variables.
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Young People and the Digital Divide in Egypt Badran & Andres
Table 4: Extreme Bound Analysis y Coefficients
P- value
95% Confidence interval
Min Beta
-0.4871
0.0333
[-0.8109 -0.1634]
Max Beta
-0.3353 0 33 3
0 0464 0.0464
[ 0 6464 -0.0242] [-0.6464 0 0242]
ROBUSTNESS CHECKS, cont.. ROBUSTNESS CHECKS, cont.. • The The results regarding the effect of results regarding the effect of urbanization on the Digital divide index are robust independent of the explanatory robust, independent of the explanatory variables included in our specification. • From a simple inspection of the Table, we see From a simple inspection of the Table we see that the minimum and maximum coefficients have the same sign and also the same sign for have the same sign and also the same sign for the confidence intervals. 47
Young People and the Digital Divide in Egypt Badran & Andres
CONCLUSIONS • We constructed a composite indicator of the digital divide p g across urban and rural areas by employing data from the 2009 SYPE survey. • Using an ordered probit model to a sample of around 15,000 Ui d d bit d lt l f d 15 000 individuals, we find the level of urbanization is a significant predictor of the digital divide. • In light of the Extreme Bound Analysis (EBA), this result seems to be robust to model specification. • Other factors such as gender, wealth, and age groups are Oh f h d lh d associated with the digital divide.
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Young People and the Digital Divide in Egypt Badran & Andres
FUTURE EXTENSIONS • The current paper may be replicated on a wider sample, in order to see if our results can be generalized, and to allow us a comparison with the evidence of other MENA countries, (e.g. Morocco, or African country such as M ii ) Mauritius) • Other variables may be included as additional d t determinants of the digital divide as well.(eg. institutional i t f th di it l di id ll ( i tit ti l environment, government policies etc.) • Moreover, the analysis might be replicated by employing Moreover the analysis might be replicated by employing data at regional level and explore ICT diffusion across Egyptian regions, as well as empirically assess the Egyptian regions, as well as empirically assess the determinants for variations across regions in ICT diffusion. Young People and the Digital Divide in 49
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POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS • Policy recommendations can be given for both the demand and the supply side of the market. On the d demand side, creating more content and encouraging d id ti t t d i the youth to be part of this process, is a vital way to overcome the digital divide especially among the rural overcome the digital divide especially among the rural young population. • In addition, social media play an important role in In addition, social media play an important role in bridging this existing digital divide, by encouraging the young population to use the social networks, such as Facebook , which is indeed becoming very popular in Egypt ( Egypt is Facebook most important country in Af i Africa with close to 12 mn users and 14% penetration ith l t 12 d 14% t ti Young People and the Digital Divide in rate), the access to the Internet would become more Egypt 50 Badran & Andres prevalent
Interesting Results from a Recent BBC Survey
While internet use is growing fast, it remains strongest among urban, middle and upper class groups who can afford buy a PC and have an internet connections – either at home or through their smart phones – and those who are computer literate Thus we should empower the young population with more skills and educationYoung People and the Digital Divide in to overcome this challenge.. 51
Egypt Badran & Andres
POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS, cont… • As to the supply side, Public Point of Access serves also as a very suitable mean of access to the Internet, especially in rural areas. Increasing their numbers and supporting these public points of access such as Internet cafes with the necessary infrastructure to meet the demand of the young population in rural areas is also important. l l l • More attention should be given to the universal access policies targeting rural and underserved areas, especially low income areas. • In particular a universal service scheme that includes universal broadband coverage as a target is also necessary to reach the social inclusion objective and bridge the digital divide. Thus, the national regulator has an i important role to play in this respect. l l i hi • The access gap that is found in the rural areas (World Bank, 2009), require the consideration of public subsidies, depending on the level of income, to access the Internet. h 52
Young People and the Digital Divide in Egypt Badran & Andres
Thank you for your attention!! Email: samifarah mona@gmail com Email:
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Young People and the Digital Divide in Egypt Badran & Andres