participation and democracy (Kenney, 1995; Braga, 1996; Hadden, 1996).
2
Despite these
claims, it must be noted that the benefits of ICTs are often held to be true axiomatically.
Usually, however, the manner in which ICTs lead to such positive effects is not described very
clearly.
1 Hamelink (1997) provides the following definition for the range of technologies that fall under the rubric of
information and communication technologies. Information and communication technologies encompass all those
technologies that enable the handling of information and facilitate different forms of communications among human
actors, between human beings and electronic systems, and among electronic systems. These technologies can be
sub-divided into capturing, storage, processing, communications and display technologies.
2 ICTs are often identified as “leapfrogging” technologies. Despite the skepticism often associated with this term,
Negroponte (1998), believes that these technologies will not fail in delivering the required impetus. Some evidence
on this trend is already emerging. According to the World Development Report (1998), telephone networks in
Djibouti, the Maldives, Mauritius, and Qatar are fully digitized. In contrast, many industrialized countries continue
to rely heavily on older, analog technology.
The Role of ICT in Economic Development – A Partial Survey
4
On a more skeptical note, Rodgers (1995) points out that access to the new technologies
is largely a function of the existing education, income and wealth distributions. It is argued that
both, the inability to access due to limited education or inappropriate language skills and the
prevalence of inequalities in access will tend to exacerbate information gaps and thus increase
inter-personal (inter-regional) income inequality in developing countries. This tendency may be
strengthened if the use of ICTs increases the demand for skilled labor. Also, it is feared that, at
least in the short run, their introduction in manufacturing and service industries may lead to job
redundancies and unemployment (Roche and Blaine, 1996). Finally, and maybe most
importantly, developing countries may have other, more pressing investment priorities.
Devoting limited resources to ICTs would be difficult to justify, especially if there is only scanty
evidence of investment returns.
3
The variety of views expressed above suggests that the role played by information and
communication technologies is still obscure and that the debate concerning it suffers from a lack
of convincing evidence and information. While this is somewhat ironic, it is clear that if these
new technologies are to command the continued interest of the developing world and justify
additional investments, a more convincing demonstration of the returns to these technologies is
required.
In view of the need for clarity and additional evidence to justify investments in ICTs, this
paper endeavors to answer three questions: first, what characteristics distinguish these
technologies from those invented in the past; second, what are the links through which these
technologies are expected to exert an influence, and third, what justifies the confidence placed in
ICTs as a development tool, i.e., is there any empirical evidence to support the claims made for
or against ICTs?
To tackle these issues, section 2 provides a characterization of information and
communication technologies. Section 3 outlines a framework that links investments in ICTs to
economic outcomes and may be used to guide empirical work and measurement efforts in this
area. Section 4 takes stock of what is known about the effects of these technologies on
productivity, welfare, and wages, focusing particularly on the methodologies that may be used to
assess the impact of ICTs. Section 5 presents concluding observations.
3
For developed countries, there is an increasing body of evidence that indicates a positive impact of ICTs on firm
productivity and individual wages, but, empirical evidence for developing countries is still scarce.
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