Progress Towards Resolving the Measurement Link Between ICT and Poverty Reduction

Autor: Julian May, Kathleen Diga
Rok vydání: 2015
Předmět:
Zdroj: Impact of Information Society Research in the Global South ISBN: 9789812873804
DOI: 10.1007/978-981-287-381-1_5
Popis: This chapter provides a review on the debate and latest literature around Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and its connection to poverty. The review first acknowledges the trend of global poverty, which today can be measured in a multitude of dimensions. This multidimensional poverty measurement approach has emerged within ICTs and Development (ICTD) research alongside a new contribution called “digital poverty”. When looking at the empirical linkages between the concepts of poverty and ICTs, the literature reveals heterogeneity in the measurement choices as to who are the poor and whether the poor have ICTs across developing countries. Yet in various cases where the poor have ICTs, some are found to be sensitive to changes of price and see variability within equity of affordability. Furthermore, only few studies have been able to show causal inference to make the micro-level impact linkage between ICTs and poverty. In reviewing this literature, we provide some of the major themes, gaps, and recommendations towards improving the understanding of ICTD and poverty.
Databáze: OpenAIRE