IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ausecr/v57y2024i4p319-350.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Dual Risks of Digital Exclusion and Unaffordability of Telecommunications in Lower‐Income Australian Households

Author

Listed:
  • Ewa Orzechowska‐Fischer
  • Emily Rose
  • Robert Breunig

Abstract

We analyse household telecommunications spending in Australia over the period 2006–2021 using Household Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey data. We find the affordability of telecommunications is improving, and that telecommunications spending behaves like other core necessities, such as food. We find households in which members are not employed, have relatively low education, are elderly, Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders or immigrants, speak English poorly, reside alone, or have long‐term health conditions are at heightened risk of digital exclusion due to lower spending on telecommunications. Households located in rural areas, with children or with members that work from home are at higher risk of digital exclusion as a consequence of overspending on telecommunications. Overall, the number of people at risk of digital exclusion from inadequate spending or overspending is quite small in Australia. The risks appear to have decreased during COVID‐19. Telecommunications is a core necessity but given the small number of people at risk of exclusion, policies addressing affordability should be highly targeted.

Suggested Citation

  • Ewa Orzechowska‐Fischer & Emily Rose & Robert Breunig, 2024. "The Dual Risks of Digital Exclusion and Unaffordability of Telecommunications in Lower‐Income Australian Households," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 57(4), pages 319-350, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ausecr:v:57:y:2024:i:4:p:319-350
    DOI: 10.1111/1467-8462.12569
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8462.12569
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/1467-8462.12569?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ausecr:v:57:y:2024:i:4:p:319-350. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/mimelau.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.