Internet Kiosks in Rural India: What Influences Success?

In this paper we investigate an example of a very widely applied model for the delivery of IT services to rural and poor populations. The model is one where limited intervention to support infrastructure and coordinate resources is combined with market-based delivery of IT services to the end user (what we call here the "sustainable franchise model"). Though this model has been deployed world-wide by governments, NGOs, and development institutions in the past few years, few researchers have studied the determinants of success in such a model. In this paper we examine the example of n-Logue, a franchise of over 1000 locally-owned, internet kiosks in rural villages in India. We seek to assess how this new sustainable franchise model has worked in practice by analyzing data from 74 of n-Logue's kiosks. Among other things, we find that gender and education do not affect success, while location and other measures of social standing (age and caste) do. We also find that the uses that villagers have for IT services are not so different from those which first world users have. The lessons we draw from this example are that while local customs and practices must be taken into account (e.g. the caste system), it is not a foregone conclusion that social biases (e.g. against women) cannot be mitigated by good program design

The marginal utility of money: A modern Marshallian approach to consumer choice

We reformulate neoclassical consumer choice by focusing on lamda, the marginal utility of money. As the opportunity cost of current expenditure, lamda is approximated by the slope of the indirect utility function of the continuation. We argue that lamda can largely supplant the role of an arbitrary budget constraint in partial equilibrium analysis. The result is a better grounded, more flexible and more intuitive approach to consumer choice.budget constraint, separability, value for money

BAKHTIN: THE DANGERS OF DIALOGUE

Este artigo tem como foco a relação com o Outro – o aspecto subjacente do dialogismo – nas obras de Mikhail Bakhtin. Sua abordagem da heterologia (a ciência ou conhecimento sobre o Outro) é fundamental para uma análise de temas como o carnaval (riso), a história e a economia da existência humana, objetos de sua investigação teórica. Em certa etapa de seu pensamento, parece que sua concepção de Outro se distingue em duas configurações. Primeiro, o Outro dominado e apropriado pelo sujeito, ou pelo Autor, ou pelo Eu na relação dialógica – é apenas um Outro provisório. O segundo é o Outro irredutível, além da possibilidade de conhecimento adequado e, portanto, potencialmente excluído do diálogo. Assim, o fim do diálogo, o silêncio, permanece como uma sombra obscura no horizonte da lógica discursiva significante. Além disso, os conceitos de significado e verdade em si parecem ser prejudicados aqui, já que “respostas às perguntas constituem o que eu chamo de ‘significados’” (Bakhtin). Entretanto, Bakhtin nunca questiona abertamente os valores fundamentais de conhecimento e verdade definitiva; sua posição pode ser dada assim: “A verdade está lá fora. Só que provavelmente não é cognoscível a um indivíduo. Ou talvez não seja a nenhum”.PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Heteroglossia. Carnaval. Alteridade. Bakhtin. Abstract This article focuses on the relation to the Other - the underlying aspect of dialogism - in the works of Mikhail Bakhtin. His approach to heterology (science or knowledge of the Other) is fundamental to analysis of such themes of his oeuvre as carnival (laughter), history, and economy of human existence. On a certain stage it appears, that two configurations may be distinguished in Bakhtin's conception of the Other. First, the Other dominated and apprropriated by the subject, or Author, or Self in the dialogic relation – it is only a provisional Other. The second is the irreducible Other, outside the possibility of adequate knowledge and thus potentially excluded from dialogue. Thus, the end of dialogue, the silence remains as a dark shadow on the horizon of the meaningful discursive logic. Moreover, the concepts of meaning and truth itself seem to be jeopardized here, since «answers to questions is what I call 'meanings'» (Bakhtin). Nevertheless, Bakhtin never openly questions the fundamental values of knowledge and final truth; his position may be summed up thus: «The truth is out there. Only it is probably not cognizable to an individual. Or may be not to anybody».KEYWORDS: Heteroglossia. Carnival. Otherness. Bakhtin. DOI: https://doi.org/10.47295/mren.v1i2.391

Network Economics and the Digital Divide in Rural South Asia

The concept of a 'global digital divide' is now common, and many cross-country studies of determinants of differences in computer and Internet penetration have been performed. The main conclusions and policy implications from these studies are relatively blunt: get richer, have more telephones, and regulate telecommunications better. In this paper, we examine an alternative approach to bridging the digital divide, through organizational innovations that provide low cost Internet access in developing countries, within the existing conditions of income levels, telecommunications infrastructure and regulatory environment. We use survey data from 500 individuals in three South Asian countries, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka, to examine factors influencing patterns of computer and Internet use. These individuals were in situations where computer and Internet access has been provided by a developmental agency (government or non-government). We estimate logit and multinomial logit models, using explanatory variables such as income, household size, education, and occupation, as well as infrastructure factors such as quality of electricity supply, and availability of telephones and televisions. Thus we are able to go beyond simple analyses of penetration at the country level, to understand the microeconomics of computer and Internet use in rural South Asia