Role of ICT in Harnessing Poverty Reduction: An Empirical Study using an ARDL Approach
M. C. Dileep Kumar, Ravinder Rena, Gnanadhas Delina, P. Srinivasan · 2024
The catalytic role of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in poverty reduction has been examined in this chapter, in line with the United Nation’s first Sustainable Development Goal (SDG-1). This study focuses on the impact of ICT variables such as individuals using the internet, population covered by a mobile-cellular network, mobile-cellular telephone subscriptions, and international bandwidth usage, on poverty alleviation using relevant data covering countries worldwide from 2010 to 2022. Employing the Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) method, the study examines both short-run dynamics and long-run effects of ICT interventions towards achieving SDG-1. Results reveal a stronger relationship between internet usage and poverty reduction, alongside a counterintuitive finding showing a negative coefficient for international bandwidth usage. The findings of the study emphasize the pivotal role of internet usage and international bandwidth usage in poverty mitigation. Further, as evidenced by data findings, any immediate changes in the ICT indicators such as international bandwidth usage, population covered by a mobile network, mobile telephone subscriptions may not affect the poverty levels in the short term. The results of the study posit the policymakers to acknowledge the impact of internet usage in alleviating poverty among the world countries. The study reckons that improvement of internet infrastructure and enhancement of digital literacy initiatives via increased internet usage has the potential to harness poverty reduction.