WORKSHOP ON ICT AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT II

The workshop I mentioned yesterday was really quite interesting. On the one hand, the economists focused on the policies and institutions needed to obtain economic growth; on the other hand experts from various sectors focused on the physical problems occurring with land, water, sanitation, transportation, energy and urbanization.

Development, in the sense of economic growth, it was agreed would not occur without good economic policies. It was apparent that the consensus is growing that institutions are also critical to economic development. It was suggested that the good economic performance of India and China were the results of policy changes that had been made, but that the lagging regions in each country were the result not only of geographical disadvantages, but of institutional variations within countries.

It was also agreed that the policies and institutions that promote economic growth were also largely responsible for success in innovations in societies, and especially for high rates of technological innovation. It seems likely to me that in countries with policies that encourage economic growth and technological innovation, ICT innovation will be strong, and will almost inevitably contribute to economic growth.

Unfortunately, history suggests that there will be a large number of countries that do not achieve economic growth. The experience in Africa has been a stark contrast to the recent successes in India and China. One questions. One question that was raised in my mind, was whether ICT could be used to encourage and support the development of good policies and institutions in countries with low historical rates of growth – i.e. poor countries.

It is well known that there are strong correlations between per capita GDP and many indicators of wellbeing. Thus one can expect economic growth to contribute to improved nutrition, improved health, improved education, etc. It was also noted that the graphs demonstrating these correlations can be interpreted in quite a different way.

Thus, for a given level of per capita GDP, one finds wide differences in health indicators. The same level of infant mortality can be found in relatively rich countries with poor health policies and institutions as in relatively poor countries with good health policies and institutions.

Thus we are lead to further questions. For example, what are the policies and institutions that will be needed to allow a strong rate of ICT innovation to improve nutrition, health, education, etc. Can ICT be instrumental in improving these policies and institutions.

Extrapolating, it seems clear that growth and sustainability are not identical, and that we must investigate the policies and institutions that promote both, or at least the set of policies and institutions that are needed to make growth and poverty reduction sustainable. I think it is clear that ICT has a role in sustainability and in supporting policies and institutions for sustainability, and that this role differs somewhat from but is complementary to the role of ICT in development.

What is the relative importance of applications of ICT to improve economic growth, versus to improve nutrition, health, and education, and versus to assure the sustainability of development?