Before planning your week, it is probably not unusual for you to check the weather forecast on your smartphone. For a farmer in a rural developing economy, however, weather news is more likely to come from the TV, radio, or…

The COVID-19 pandemic has revolutionized the face of field research in the era of mobile phones and the internet. While in-person interviews provide an opportunity to researchers for extensive interactions with participants in any study, to reduce the risk of…

In this blog post, TCI scholar Vanisha Sharma investigates how farmers in India’s impoverished rural areas are using the internet to boost agricultural productivity. Beginning in 2016, a public-private partnership called Jio laid 250,000 km of fiber optic cable throughout…

Vanisha Sharma is a PhD candidate in applied economics, with a concentration in development and agriculture economics. She is interested in analyzing the effects of the internet and digitization in rural economies. Her field-based research involves exploiting increasing internet access…