Description: Regulation and Internet Use in Developing Countries

Cover Image

QR Code

Regulation and Internet Use in Developing Countries

Policymakers are simultaneously concerned about the consequences of a worsening "digital divide" between rich and poor countries and hopeful that information and computing technologies could increase economic growth in developing countrie...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author:	Wallsten, Scott
Language:	English en_US
Published:	World Bank, Washington, DC 2014
Subjects:	ACCESS TO INFORMATION BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES CIVIC ENGAGEMENT COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES COMPETITION POLICY COMPETITIVENESS CONSUMERS DEVELOPED COUNTRIES DIGITAL DIVIDE ECONOMETRIC ANALYSIS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ECONOMIC GROWTH ECONOMIC RESEARCH ECONOMIC SITUATION EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS EMPIRICAL RESEARCH EMPLOYMENT FOREIGN COMPETITION GDP ICT INCOME INCREASING RETURNS INCREASING RETURNS TO SCALE INDUSTRIAL ECONOMICS INFORMATION ECONOMICS INFORMATION ECONOMY INFORMATION MANAGEMENT INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY INNOVATIONS INTERNET ACCESS INTERNET HOSTS INTERNET PRICING INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS INTERNET USE ISP LEASED LINES MARKET POWER MIDDLE INCOME COUNTRIES NATURAL MONOPOLIES PER CAPITA INCOME PERSONAL COMPUTERS PRIVATE GOODS PRODUCTIVITY PROGRAMS REGULATORY AGENCIES REGULATORY AGENCY REGULATORY POLICY RETURNS TO SCALE SOFTWARE INDUSTRY TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE TELECOMMUNICATIONS TELECOMMUNICATIONS ACCESS TELECOMMUNICATIONS DEVELOPMENT TELECOMMUNICATIONS INDUSTRY TELECOMMUNICATIONS POLICY TELECOMMUNICATIONS REFORM TELECOMMUNICATIONS REFORMS TELECOMMUNICATIONS REGULATION TELECOMMUNICATIONS SECTOR TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES TELEPHONE LINES TELEPHONY TRAINING CENTERS TRANSITION ECONOMIES UNIVERSAL SERVICE
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2003/03/2166845/regulation-internet-use-developing-countries http://hdl.handle.net/10986/19042

Description
Summary:	Policymakers are simultaneously concerned about the consequences of a worsening "digital divide" between rich and poor countries and hopeful that information and computing technologies could increase economic growth in developing countries. But very little research has explored the reasons for the digital divide beyond noting that it is strongly correlated with standard development indicators, and no empirical research has explored the role of regulation. The author uses data from a unique new survey of telecommunications regulators and other sources to measure the effects of regulation in Internet development. He finds regulation strongly correlated with lower Internet penetration and higher Internet access charges. More specifically, controlling for factors such as income, development of the telecommunications infrastructure, ubiquity of personal computers, and time trends, countries that require formal regulatory approval for Internet service providers (ISPs) to begin operations have fewer Internet users and Internet hosts than countries that do not require such approval. Moreover, countries that regulate ISP final-user prices have higher Internet access prices than countries that do not have such regulations. These results suggest that developing countries' own regulatory policies can have large impacts on the digital divide.