The Paradox of ICT’s Impact on Growth and Inequality

Thirty years ago a UN commission published the Maitland Report , proposing that by the early 21st century, every individual on the planet should “be within easy reach of a telephone” given the economic benefits. That was interpreted as being within a one day walk of a phone. Anyone suggesting back then that over 90% of the global population would be covered by mobile cellular signals, and over half of the world’s population would have a phone in their pocket, would have been [...]