ICT AND THE REDUCTION OF POVERTY

The evidence seems to suggest that the more advanced a country is in the Information Revolution, the greater the inequality in distribution of income and wealth. I think the real question for the international development community is not whether ICT can be used to make the rich even richer, but whether it can be used to reduce or ameliorate poverty. Here are some references that address the subject.

Information and Communication Technologies: Impact on Poverty Reduction
In the infoDev Annual Report 2000, (published in 2001)
http://www.infodev.org/library/AR/ann00.pdf

The Costs and Benefits of ICTs for Direct Poverty Alleviation
by Charles Kenny, January, 2002.
http://www.infodev.org/library/Kenny/povpap7.pdf

Information and Communication Technologies and Poverty
By Charles Kenny, TechKnowLogia, July/August 2001.
http://www.digitaldividend.org/pdf/kenny.pdf

Development's False Divide
“Giving Internet access to the world's poorest will cost a lot and accomplish little.”
By Charles Kenny, Foreign Policy, January/February 2003.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/issue_janfeb_2003/kenny.html

The Significance of Information and Communication Technologies for Reducing Poverty
A study by Phil Marker, Kerry McNamara, and Lindsay Wallace for the UK Department for International Development (DfID) staff.
http://www.dfid.gov.uk/Pubs/files/ict_poverty.htm

Information Communication Technologies, Poverty And Empowerment
By Andrew Skuse; A background paper for the British Government White Paper on International Development; June 2000.
http://www.dfid.gov.uk/Pubs/files/sdd_dn3.pdf

Information and Communication Technologies and Poverty
An April 2001 report by several World Bank staff members.
http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/strategies/chapters/ict/ict0409.pdf

Information and Communication Technologies and Broad-Based Development: A Partial Review of the Evidence
A February 2001 report by a team of academics and World Bank staff members.
http://lnweb18.worldbank.org/ict/resources.nsf/InfoResources/1DDA15AC468EB637852569FB0053CB77

ICT And Poverty: The Indisputable Link
Alexander G. Flor's Paper for Third Asia Development Forum on “Regional Economic Cooperation in Asia and the Pacific” 11-14 June 2001, Bangkok.
Url: http://www.worldbank.org/html/extdr/offrep/eap/eapprem/infoalexan.pdf

Digital Opportunities For Poverty Reduction: Addressing The International Digital Divide
Report of a Global Forum held in March 2001, and organized by the OECD, UN, UNDP and World Bank, to look at the role of ICTs in helping achieve shared development goals and co-operation to bridge the digital divide.
http://www1.oecd.org/dac/digitalforum/docs/DO_IssuesConclusions_En.pdf

The ICT Revolution: Can Asia Leapfrog Poverty Barriers?
Summary of the discussions at a seminar titled: "The ICT Revolution: Can Asia Leapfrog Poverty Barriers" published in the Asian Development Bank's ADB Review, July - September 2001.
http://www.adb.org/Documents/Periodicals/ADB_Review/2001/vol33_3/ict.asp

The Development Divide In A Digital Age: An Issues Paper
By Cynthia Hewitt de Alcántara, published by the UN Research Institute for Social Development, August 2001.
ftp://ftp.unicc.org/unrisd/outgoing/pp/tbs/hewitt.pdf

A Livelihoods Approach to Communication and Information to Reduce Poverty
A 2001-2002 study that included a literature review and field trips to three countries, Ghana, Uganda and India, to analyse how ICTs can best be used in rural areas to enhance livelihoods.
http://www.eldis.org/static/DOC11278.htm

IT and the Economy
The Information Technology Industry Council site on the effects of IT on economic productivity and growth, surplus and revenues in the U.S. (among other things).
http://www.itic.org/sections/Economy.html

One might also look at the book:
“Information And Communication Technology In Development: Cases From India,” Edited by: Subhash Bhatnagar and Robert Schware, 2000. More information on this book is available on the following website, but the book appears only available in hard copy:
http://www.iimahd.ernet.in/3inetwork/books.htm#ic