Slashdot Mirror
Wealth In Africa Mapped Using Mobile Phone Data
KentuckyFC writes "The remarkable growth of mobile phone use is transforming many parts of Africa. In Sudan and Gabon, more than half of all adults use their phones to transfer money, the activist website Ushahidi used text messages to map post-election violence in Kenya in 2008 and in Nigeria, mobile music services are a multi-million dollar industry. Now demographers have used the way people purchase airtime to map wealth in Cote d'Ivoire on Africa's west coast. They analysed a dataset from one of the country's largest mobile operators containing caller IDs, the cell towers used for each call and the time and amount of all airtime purchases. The researchers say an individual's airtime buying habits are a good proxy for his or her income. As a result, they were able to to map wealth across the entire country. Their map clearly shows the wealthy cities such as Abidjan, the largest seaport in West Africa. But it also shows an unexpectedly wealthy region in the conflict-ridden area that borders Liberia. This wealth probably arises from illegal activities on the border, such as drug, arms and human trafficking, they conclude."
To be told that something works by an academic is nice, but it is hardly satisfying. Without the data, rigor, or representation, we have no pragmatic way to see how useful this actually is.
Would be nice to have an article linked correctly... https://medium.com/the-physics-arxiv-blog/716ca39266c9
Hardly. Basic mobile phones in West Africa cost about $20, or about a month's wages, when purchased in a store. When bought from a street vendor or from a friend, they can be had for as little as $1 for a very low-end model.
Where in America, a phone is a status symbol showing how much wealth you can spend luxury, in Africa it's a declaration that you will be a part of modern globally-connected society. To cultures emphasizing family and tribal relationships, and now facing decline as tribe members leave for economic gain elsewhere, a cell phone represents the ability to always stay connected. A village that is still able to contact its departed members is held in higher regard than one with just money. Much of Africa's history has seen forms of money come and go, but territorial influence is always valued.
You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
Looking at the map, particularly the second one showing the "coefficient of variation" I can't help but notice that not all of the hot spots are on the boarder, but, they do all seem to be associated with rivers. River crossing on the interior and where rivers move close to borders on the exterior.
Basically wealth is concentrated in unsurprising places along where you would expect to find trade routes. Why connect this with illegal activity aside from being more attention grabbing? I mean I don't doubt some of the wealth there is from illegal activity but, just because legitimate trade routes get used for illicit activity for rather mundane reasons (its where the money is)
"I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
Anyone who owns a mobile phone.
Not true. In Africa, even the very poor often have phones. They can buy used phones for less than $5, which are often refurbished first-world throwaways. Phone services are very cheap, and in Africa, phones are a critical economic tool. "Minutes" on your phone are more inflation proof than the official currency, and peer-to-peer transactions are often possible. So even a farmer selling his produce by the roadside will find that a cellphone is an economic necessity. So if he has to choose between the phone and shoes for his kids, he will choose the phone. The shoes can come later.