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...
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Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2014
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Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2003/03/2166845/regulation-internet-use-developing-countries http://hdl.handle.net/10986/19042 |
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okr-10986-190422021-04-23T14:03:42Z Regulation and Internet Use in Developing Countries Wallsten, Scott 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 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. 2014-07-29T19:53:19Z 2014-07-29T19:53:19Z 2003-03 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2003/03/2166845/regulation-internet-use-developing-countries http://hdl.handle.net/10986/19042 English en_US Policy Research Working Paper;No. 2979 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Publications & Research |
repository_type |
Digital Repository |
institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
institution |
Digital Repositories |
building |
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
collection |
World Bank |
language |
English en_US |
topic |
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 |
spellingShingle |
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 Wallsten, Scott Regulation and Internet Use in Developing Countries |
relation |
Policy Research Working Paper;No. 2979 |
description |
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. |
format |
Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper |
author |
Wallsten, Scott |
author_facet |
Wallsten, Scott |
author_sort |
Wallsten, Scott |
title |
Regulation and Internet Use in Developing Countries |
title_short |
Regulation and Internet Use in Developing Countries |
title_full |
Regulation and Internet Use in Developing Countries |
title_fullStr |
Regulation and Internet Use in Developing Countries |
title_full_unstemmed |
Regulation and Internet Use in Developing Countries |
title_sort |
regulation and internet use in developing countries |
publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2003/03/2166845/regulation-internet-use-developing-countries http://hdl.handle.net/10986/19042 |
_version_ |
1764439337509847040 |