The World Bank Group’s annual flagship publication - World Development Report (WDR) - is an important resource for social scientists, policy makers, and thought leaders.
The 359-page WDR 2016, Digital Dividends, “explores the impact of the internet, mobile phones, and related technologies on economic development. Part One of the Report shows that potential gains from digital technologies are high, but often remain unrealized. Part Two proposes policies to expand connectivity, accelerate complementary reforms in sectors beyond information and communication technology (ICT), and address global coordination problems.”
Excerpt:
“Only around 15 per cent of the world’s population currently has affordable high-speed access to the internet. Use of mobile phones, reaching almost three quarters of the world’s population, provides the main form of internet access in developing countries. But the lives of 2 billion people remain largely untouched by information and communication technologies (ICTs), and half a billion live outside areas with a mobile signal. The world’s offline population is mainly in India and China, but more than 100 million people are also offline in North America, mainly in Mexico.” [p 201]
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