Information communication technology and economic development: Learning from the Indian experience

摘要

This book is worth reading for those interested in ICT, economic development and technology diffusion. It almost presents a Prahaladian challenge of Western assumptions commonly held about India offering a vivid re-evaluation of economic development theory. This work both contextualizes India's emergence thanks to the economics of growth and provides some detailed insights into industrial characteristics involved in those changes. Stough et al. (Chapter 2) invite us to consider the Indian experience as leapfrogging from Rostow's development stages whereby creating endogenous growth conditions thanks to public policy support, key firms' technology investments and the development of related human capital. India seems to have started an export-oriented industrialization (EOI) within few agglomeration economies. The export trade helped to create spill-over of foreign capital and disseminate the learning of new techniques and processes. This type of industrialization questions how ICT affects India's economic development. Thatchenkery et al. (in Chapter 3) show that ICT account for 3.8 per cent of the Indian GDP in 2003-2004.