{"id":143912,"date":"2018-11-26T08:49:24","date_gmt":"2018-11-26T13:49:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=143912"},"modified":"2018-11-27T09:13:52","modified_gmt":"2018-11-27T14:13:52","slug":"op-ed-mexico-wants-internet-reduce-poverty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2018\/11\/op-ed-mexico-wants-internet-reduce-poverty\/","title":{"rendered":"Op-ed: Mexico Wants Internet for All. That Could Reduce Poverty"},"content":{"rendered":"

The internet has been a right in Mexico since the nation\u2019s\u00a0constitution<\/a> was amended in 2013 to guarantee universal online access.<\/p>\n

Yet just 47 percent of households there\u00a0reported having internet in 2016<\/a>, the most recent data available.<\/p>\n

To get more citizens online, the government of President Enrique Pe\u00f1a Nieto has invested\u00a0nearly $1 billion<\/a>\u00a0in its \u201cMexico Conectado<\/a>\u201d initiative since 2013, adding broadband connections to libraries, schools, hospitals, and other public facilities nationwide, particularly in poor and rural areas.<\/p>\n

Ensuring that all Mexicans have access to the internet would do more than just making good on the Constitution\u2019s unfulfilled promise \u2013 it would also give the country\u2019s economy a boost, my\u00a0research<\/a>\u00a0shows.<\/p>\n

Internet access helps people escape poverty<\/strong><\/p>\n

Forty-three percent of Mexicans lived in poverty in 2016, according to the most recent data from the\u00a0Mexican Institute of Statistics and Geography<\/a>. That\u2019s down just 3 percentage points from 2010.<\/p>\n

Poverty rates have changed relatively little in Mexico over the past\u00a020 years<\/a>, despite ambitious\u00a0anti-poverty programs<\/a>\u00a0offering\u00a0cash assistance<\/a>, food, health care, and educational opportunities to the poorest families.<\/p>\n

With its digital inclusion strategy, Mexico hopes to nudge social mobility upward. That\u2019s because internet access and poverty reduction are strongly connected, as my\u00a0study of 92 developing countries<\/a>, including Mexico, confirms.<\/p>\n

The internet is now all but\u00a0essential<\/a>\u00a0to economic mobility in a digital world.<\/p>\n

Students\u00a0study and learn online<\/a>. Unemployed people need the internet to find and apply for jobs. Factory workers use it to\u00a0organize<\/a>\u00a0for better\u00a0labor rights<\/a>. Online training teaches corporate employees new skills, helping them get promoted or change fields.\u00a0Online resources<\/a>\u00a0can help farmers plan for weather changes.<\/p>\n

Internet access makes it\u00a0easier to move up in life<\/a>\u00a0for\u00a0other reasons<\/a>, too. Social media connects people to others outside their immediate circle, for example, and gives them information about their rights as citizens.<\/p>\n

Acknowledging the link between\u00a0technology and poverty reduction<\/a>, the United Nations made one of its\u00a0global development goals for 2030<\/a>\u00a0to \u201csignificantly increase access to information and communications technology and strive to provide universal and affordable access to the internet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Digital divide between rich and poor<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the United States, about\u00a095 percent of people<\/a>\u00a0have\u00a0access to the internet<\/a>. Rates are similar in Germany, Sweden, Argentina, and other wealthy countries.<\/p>\n

Yet billions of people worldwide \u2013 the vast majority of them\u00a0poor<\/a>, many of them in\u00a0India and China<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 still lack internet access. Last year was the first time\u00a0that more than half the global population<\/a>\u00a0had access to the internet, according to Internet World Statistics.<\/p>\n

In Mexico,\u00a063 percent<\/a>\u00a0are considered internet users. The roughly 50 million people who remain offline are also generally the country\u2019s\u00a0poorest residents<\/a>.<\/p>\n