明治政経2008 I

You are a fisherman off the coast of northern Kerala, a region in the south of India. Visiting your usual fishing ground, you bring in an unusually good catch of sardines. That means other fishermen in the area will probably have done well too, so there will be plenty of supply at the local beach market: prices will be low, and you may not even be able to sell your catch. Should you head for the usual market anyway, or should you go down the coast in the hope that fishermen in that area will not have done so well and your fish will fetch a better price? If you make the wrong choice you cannot visit another market, because fuel is costly and each market is open for only a couple of hours before dawn ― and it takes that long for your boat to putter* from one to the next. Since fish are perishable, any that cannot be sold will have to be dumped into the sea.

This, in a nutshell, was the situation facing Kerala's fishermen until 1997. The result was far ( ) ideal for both fishermen and their customers. In practice, the fishermen [choose] to stick with their home markets all the time.  This was wasteful because when a particular market is oversupplied, fish are thrown away, even though there may be buyers for them a little farther along the coast. On average, 5 - 8 % of the total catch was wasted, says Robert Jensen, a development economist at Harvard University who has surveyed the price of sardines at 15 beach markets along Kerala's coast. On January 14th 1997, for example, 11 fishermen at Badagara beach ended up [throw] away their catches, yet on that day there were 27 buyers at markets within 15 km who would have bought their fish. There were also wide variations in the price of sardines along the coast.

Starting in 1997, however, mobile phones were introduced in Kerala. Since the areas [cover] by mobile phone service spread gradually, this provided an (3) ideal way to judge the effect of mobile phones ( ) the fishermen's  behavior, the price of fish, and the amount of waste. For many years, there has been a plentiful supply of stories about the ways in which mobile phones promote more efficient markets and encourage economic activity. One particularly popular tale is that of the fisherman who is able to call several nearby markets from his boat to establish where his catch will get the highest price. Mr. Jensen's paper adds some numbers ( "5 ) the familiar stories and shows precisely how mobile phones support economic growth.

As phone coverage spread between 1997 and 2000, fishermen started to buy phones and use them to call coastal markets while still at sea. (The area of coverage reaches 20 - 25 km off the coast.) Instead of selling their fish at beach auctions, the fishermen would call around to find the best price. Dividing the coast into three regions, Mr. Jensen found that the proportion of fishermen who ventured beyond their home markets to sell their catches jumped from zero to around 35 % as soon as coverage became available in each region. At that point, no fish were wasted and the variation in prices fell greatly. By the time the study ended, coverage was available in all three regions. Waste had been eliminated, and the "law of one price" ― the idea that (Y)  in an efficient market identical goods should cost the same ― had come ( %- ) effect, in the form of a single rate for sardines along the coast.

This more efficient market benefited everyone. Fishermen's profits [rise] by 8 % on average and consumer prices fell by 4 % on average. Higher profits meant the phones typically paid for themselves within two months. And the benefits are enduring, rather than one-time-only. All of this, says Mr. Jensen, shows the importance of the free flow of information to ensure that markets work efficiently. "Information makes markets work, and markets improve welfare," he concludes.