Do information and communication technologies (ICTs) make Africans happy?

Abstract

ABSTRACT The objective of this article is to examine the effect of ICT use on the happiness of African populations. To this end, the dynamic system generalized method of moments (syst-GMM) is used to estimate the model for 31 African countries using annual data from 2006 to 2018. Our results show that the effect of ICTs depends on the type of ICT. Indeed, the results highlight the negative association of cell phones and the positive association of the internet on happiness in Africa. However, all ICTs are positively associated with happiness in countries with high life expectancy and low unemployment.