Information and Communication Technologies for Development and Poverty Reduction

[u]Impacts of ICT on Low-Income Rural Households[/u] by Torero, Maximo; Von Braun, Joachim 2006 In: Ibid. (Ed.): Information and Communication Technologies for Development and Poverty Reduction. The Potential of Telecommunications. Published for the International Food Policy Resreach Institute (IFPRI). Baltimore. 234-240. We live in the age of information. The development and proliferation of electronically communicated information has accelerated economic and social change across all areas of human activity worldwide—and it continues to do so at a rapid pace.While the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) remains concentrated largely in the developed world, ICT diffusion is beginning to reach developing countries, including poor rural areas, bringing with it high hopes of positive development outcomes. Yet although technological innovations, such as cellular telephones and wireless broadband access, are playing an important role in building ICT levels globally, strong inequality still remains. The rapid growth of ICTs in developing countries is partly a result of very low initial access, and therefore in absolute terms developing countries are still well behind the developed world in access to ICTs. [url]http://www.ifpri.org/pubs/ib/ib40.pdf[/url]