Communication, Search, and Mobile Phones: A Telephone Directory Intervention in Tanzania

The expansion of information and communications technology (ICT) throughout the developing
world is among the most profound instances of technological change in modern economic history.
Yet, for all the promise of this technological transformation, our understanding of the economic
significance of these changes remains surprisingly rudimentary. This is particularly the case
regarding the potential for ICT to provide pathways out of rural poverty.
We propose to study the extent to which maize farmers in Tanzania directly benefit from an
exogenous reduction in the cost of searching for firms relevant for agricultural production or trade.
Our primary intervention is a telephone directory that lists contact information for enterprises. The
rationale is simple: while phones reduce the costs of communicating with known contacts, it is not
clear how households can expand their existing networks without complementary goods that lower
the cost of using ICT to search for new contacts.
Because this intervention generates an exogenous increase in firm exposure, we will
measure impacts on both households that receive the directory and firms that are listed. Our
findings will contribute to the understanding of both smallholder market participation and SME
performance in an era of rapidly changing information and communication technologies.