Is IT Enough? Evidence from a Natural Experiment in India's Agriculture Markets

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Parker, Chris; Ramdas, Kamalini; Savva, Nicos
• 署名单位: Pennsylvania Commonwealth System of Higher Education (PCSHE); Pennsylvania State University; Pennsylvania State University - University Park; University of London; London Business School
• 刊物名称: MANAGEMENT SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0025-1909
• DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2015.2270
• 发表日期: 2016
• 页码: 2481-2503
• 关键词: price dispersion; Information and communication technology; natural experiment; agricultural supply chains

摘要

Access to information and communication technologies (ICTs) such as mobile phone networks is widely known to improve market efficiency. In this paper, we examine whether access to timely and accurate information provided through ICT applications has any additional impact. Using a detailed data set from Reuters Market Light (RML), a text message service in India that provides daily price information to market participants, we find that this information reduces the geographic price dispersion of crops in rural communities by an average of 12%, over and above access to mobile phone technology and other means of communication. To identify the effect of information on price dispersion, we exploit a natural experiment where bulk text messages were banned unexpectedly across India for 12 days in 2010. We find that besides reducing geographic price dispersion, RML also increases the rate at which prices converge across India over time. We discuss the implications of this for development organizations and information providers.