Abstract The aim of this paper is to analyse the effect of the mobile phone penetration rate on inequality in Western Balkan countries and to provide empirical evidence. We explore the question of whether cell phone diffusion helps to decrease inequality and whether it has a positive income equality effect. In the developed conceptual framework, we consider that people with access to mobile telephony also have access to Wi-Fi and GPS and that individuals can perform different activities, such as engaging in e-commerce, e-governance, health, and education; paying bills; saving money; and transferring money to other persons. This represents a good foundation for poor persons exit the cycle of deprivation and leads to the development of equal opportunities. We analyse the impact of mobile phone penetration on inequality in Western Balkan countries by using ordinary least squares and two-stage least squares models (Asongu, 2015). Our results confirm the income-redistributive effect of mobile phone penetration.

中文翻译：

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西方巴尔干国家的手机普及率及其对不平等的影响

摘要本文旨在分析手机渗透率对西部巴尔干国家不平等的影响，并提供经验证据。我们探讨了手机普及是否有助于减少不平等以及是否具有积极的收入平等效应的问题。在发达的概念框架中，我们认为可以使用移动电话的人们也可以使用Wi-Fi和GPS，并且个人可以执行不同的活动，例如从事电子商务，电子政务，健康和教育；支付账单; 节省金钱; 并把钱转移给其他人。这为穷人摆脱贫困的循环并带来平等机会的发展奠定了良好的基础。我们通过使用普通最小二乘模型和两阶段最小二乘模型分析了移动电话普及率对西方巴尔干国家不平等的影响（Asongu，2015）。我们的结果证实了手机普及率的收入分配效应。