What Became of the Information Society and Development? Assessing the Information Society's Relevance in the Context of an Economic Crisis

Abstract

Although it is widely assumed that the development of an Information Society is an engine for sustainable economic growth, this often remains more of an assumption than a demonstrable outcome. A critical analysis of that link is much needed, and particularly pertinent during times of crisis where it can be even more tested. To assist in meeting this aim, this article builds a new Information Society level of development composite index, and then it assesses the relationship between this index and a number of indices that offer a comprehensive approach to development (as inequality, sustainability or economic resilience). In general, the results corroborate the idea that the Information Society paradigm has definitively arrived in the current social and economic reality, promoting economic development and human welfare, but its benefits are not totally deployed yet.

Keywords:

• economic growth
• Information Society
• sustainable development
• composite index
• economic crisis
• human development

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Javier Jurado-González holds a Master in Telecommunication Engineering from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. He also holds a degree in Philosophy from the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia. He is as well a PhD student in Economics at Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia. José Luis Gómez-Barroso is an Associate Professor in the Department of Applied Economics and Economic History at Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED). He holds a PhD and a degree in Economics from the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED). He also holds a Master in Telecommunication Engineering from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid as well as another degree in Law from the Universidad Complutense.

ORCiD

José Luis Gómez-Barroso http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9259-4915

Notes

1. After this, therefore because of this.

2. With this, therefore because of this.

3. Post-industrial society, knowledge society, telematic society, information age, information revolution, post-fordism, network society … .

4. Its partners include ITU, OECD, UNCTAD, the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, the World Bank, the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN-DESA), the UNEP Secretariat of the Basel Convention, the UN Regional Commissions (UNECLAC, UNESCWA, UNESCAP, UNECA) and Eurostat.

5. Unhappily, ICT and development researchers are usually working several years in arrears the current situation when trying to do international comparative work. The main reason is that, paradoxically, Information Society indicators collection is not always easy, and they are not available after certain time periods, especially in developing countries. This clearly affects to the immediate value of these researches for policy makers. As Hegel characterized philosophy such as the owl of Minerva, these researches come on the scene too late, spreading their wings only with the falling of the dusk. However, in the present context, this factor does not affect critically the results, since the paper has an updated but retrospective and longer-term orientation, centered on a still lasting crisis.

6. Some outliers could be easily explained: Nordic countries (Denmark, Sweden, or even the Netherlands) have led the Information Society development in the last decades, standing out for their policies focused on this aim, which situates them with a higher ISLD value comparing to their GDP per capita PPP. On the other hand, countries as United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Brunei Darussalam, or Kuwait show a higher GDP per capita PPP value comparing to their ISLD value, as these countries have a strong economy petroleum-based. Norway is midway between these two groups of outliers, and one explanation could be considered: Norway belongs to the “Nordic countries” profile due to ambitious Norwegian Information Society policies, but on the other hand Norwegian economy is also strongly supported by petroleum.