The paper argues that the accepted pillars of a good 'investment climate' - 'security and stability, finance and infrastructure, workers and labour markets, and the regulatory framework and tax' - underpinned by 'good, stable governance' may not, in fact, be prerequisites for investment in mobile telephony. Afghanistan, DRC and Somalia, three countries with poor governance indicators, all show rapid mobile penetration growth rates between 2001 and 2006. Tentatively, they conclude that these figures are due to foreign investment, and possibly to individuals prioritising mobiles over other needs:
A Short Rant
A perennial complaint of mine is that so much excellent analysis and thinking - from conceptual thinking that could change our whole approach to aid and development, to deeply practical hazard prediction and mapping - is locked up in academic prose and, fatally, behind paywalls. David Steven on Global Dashboard wrote about this recently. Academic journals perform a vital function, but the ridiculous costs make the articles in them absolutely inaccessible to many in NGOs. The result: good work going to waste, and work on the ground and in offices in capitals all over the world not benefitting from the combined wisdom of the world's academics. Some examples of great free-to-air content:
'...insecure countries are places of great uncertainty, and uncertainty pushes up the value of information. Thus citizens will be willing to invest a greater than average level of their income on information and communication technologies, particularly those – like mobile phones – which can help to provide just the kind of information (safe/unsafe locations, approaching dangers, places to find scarce commodities, etc.) that addresses their main uncertainties.'Interesting implications for using mobiles and other information-sharing tools in conflict - and certainly fertile ground for future research. If you can get a copy of this short and useful article, it's well worth a read.
A Short Rant
A perennial complaint of mine is that so much excellent analysis and thinking - from conceptual thinking that could change our whole approach to aid and development, to deeply practical hazard prediction and mapping - is locked up in academic prose and, fatally, behind paywalls. David Steven on Global Dashboard wrote about this recently. Academic journals perform a vital function, but the ridiculous costs make the articles in them absolutely inaccessible to many in NGOs. The result: good work going to waste, and work on the ground and in offices in capitals all over the world not benefitting from the combined wisdom of the world's academics. Some examples of great free-to-air content:
- the Humanitarian Policy Group at the Overseas Development Institute
- the International Review of the Red Cross
- the Public Library of Science - PLoS.org (thanks to @EvieBrowne for the link).
Any more for any more?
