Title: The impact of the crisis on ICTs and their role in the recovery
Authors: OECD
Pages: 57 pp.
Source: Workshop: Policy Coherence in the Application of Information and Communication Technologies for Development, Paris, France /10-11 September 2009
Publisher: OECD
Date (published): August 2009
Date (accessed): 11/10/2009
Type of information: background paper
Language: English
On-line access: yes (pdf)
Abstract:...
ICT policies need re-examination and refinement in the crisis and recovery. In recent years these policies have been increasingly integrated into broader strategies to use ICTs, the Internet and other networks to achieve growth, employment and wider socio-economic objectives. These objectives include addressing national challenges (e.g. social cohesion, ageing societies, national security) and global ones (e.g. climate change, energy-efficiency, global health), and using e-government to make the delivery of such services more efficient. The crisis and launching of economic recovery measures are a propitious time to re-evaluate these policies.
Economic stimulus packages to address the economic crisis affect the ICT sector directly and indirectly. The immediate aim of these packages has been to restore the health of the banking sector and stimulate demand in the short-term; re-financing banks, injecting cash into the economy and protecting jobs. These measures may help counteract downward pressures on the ICT sector and sustain the diffusion of ICTs. Most governments also plan to foster growth through long-term investments which have potentially providing an anti-cyclical stimulus on the supply-side. In many cases these long-term plans are directly related to the ICT sector or ICT applications, including “smart” applications in urban systems, transport systems, electricity distribution, etc. The question is how current ICT policies should be maintained or rethought in the context of the economic crisis and what is the appropriate balance between continuity in proven ICT policies and change in the form of ad hoc crisis measures.