An Investigation into the Impact of Mobile Technologies on Economic Growth and Employment in the Caribbean

The adoption of mobile technologies in developing countries in Africa, the Caribbean and Asia has grown exponentially. People in poor regions are using mobile phones for banking, business transactions, socializing, staying connected and monitor the weather. This has reduced the need for travel, lead to the creation of new businesses, shorten supply chains and boost productivity. Consequently, these technologies can be used to eliminate the time and distance barriers between businesses and their customers. This paper examined the impact of mobile technologies in ten Caribbean countries which are primarily developing countries. It utilized a cross-country panel data and regression analysis to estimate and investigates the impact of mobile technologies on economic growth. Results from the paper showed that all the coefficient of the mobile technology components namely the internet user ratio, mobile-cellular telephone subscriptions and the fixed-telephone subscriptions were all significant and positive across all the regressions. This is because of the belief that they contribute to the knowledge spillover, which consequently enhances economic growth.