Tag: mobile phone

Ghana, like most countries in the global South, has a large and vibrant “informal sector,” that is, a sector where people–often for lack of formal employment–buy and sell thinks to make a living. Walking down Barnes Road towards the ocean, and then cutting over to Kwame Nkrumah Ave via Kimbu Road, the sidewalks get more and more crowded by traders until there is barely a foot-wide path left to pass. The wares offered for sale include everything one might need in daily life. Smoked and fresh fish, vegetables of all sorts, poultry (slaughtered and alive), rice and oil dominate, but there the whole array of your usual grocery store is for sale. With one exception: I would venture that the single item being offered most frequently was pre-paid air time for mobile phones. Continue reading “Cellphones and Economic Development”