From the relative to the absolute digital divide in developing countries

This chapter argues that the literature on the digital divide is based heavily on relative rather than absolute magnitudes, although the latter has more welfare significance. It is clear that the former concept has been falling sharply in recent years yet such calculations have not been made for the absolute divide. One contribution this chapter makes is to redress this gap in the literature for both mobile phones and the Internet using a sample of more than 60 countries. The results tend to be broadly consistent with findings from the literature on the adoption and diffusion of IT in developing countries generally and Africa in particular.