Journal
WORLD DEVELOPMENT
Volume 38, Issue 5, Pages 756-770Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2009.11.019
Keywords
Information and Communication Technology (ICT); digital divide; Internet; public access; household spending; Latin America; Mexico
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The article presents a model that shows how income structures create diffusion patterns of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). The model allows the creation of scenarios for potential cuts in access prices and/or required subsidies for household spending in Mexico, Uruguay. Brazil, and Costa Rica. One analyzed scenario would require the reduction of ICT prices to as low as 4% of the current price levels (to US$ 0.75 per month), or alternatively, a subsidy as high as 6.2% of GDP (a figure comparable to public spending on education plus health). This is the income reality of the poor. Neither existing technological solutions nor existing financial mechanisms are sufficient to cope with this economic reality. The alternatives, such as a prolonged period of public access, are discussed. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available