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OVERVIEW
9
Figure O.6 The digital divide in access is high in Africa, and the divide in capability is high in the
European Union
a. Africa
Within-country digital divide can be significant
25
b. European Union
Poor households use e-government less than the rich
100
Individuals with internet access (%)
20
15
10
5
% of individuals (ages 16–74)
80
60
40
20
45:1
0
Bottom
40%
Upper
60%
Income
distribution
(household)
Mature
(45+)
Young
(15–24)
Rural Urban Women Men
Age Location Gender
0
0 20,000 40,000 60,000 80,000
GDP per capita (US$)
Top income quartile
Third quartile
Second quartile
Bottom quartile
Sources: WDR 2016 team, based on data from Research ICT Africa (various years), ITU, and Eurostat (EC, various years). Data at http://bit.do/WDR2016-FigO_6.
Note: For more details see figure 2.4 in the full Report.
ease of communication for people with disabilities,
and the way people spend their leisure. By overcoming
information barriers, augmenting factors, and
transforming products, digital technologies can make
development more inclusive, efficient, and innovative
(figure O.7 and box O.2). Spotlight 1 in the full Report
explores the links between these three mechanisms
in the broader economic literature.
The internet promotes inclusion
Before the internet arrived, some transactions were
so expensive that a market for them did not exist.
Two types of transactions fall into this category.
First is when two parties to a potentially beneficial
transaction simply didn’t know about each other and
faced exorbitantly high search and information costs.
Second is when one party had a lot more information
than the other. In the economics literature, such situations
are known as information asymmetries between
buyers and sellers, and in the absence of trust and
transparency, many transactions do not take place.
By reducing the cost of acquiring information
and making more information available transparently,
digital technologies can make new transactions
possible. 7 Consider a poor farmer who cannot
access credit because the lender has no way to assess
Figure O.7 The internet promotes development
through three main mechanisms
Search and
information
INCLUSION
Source: WDR 2016 team.
DIGITAL
TECHNOLOGIES
Automation and
coordination
EFFICIENCY
creditworthiness. Or a small firm that cannot connect
with a potential buyer in another country and does not
know whether to trust a new business partner. Or a
freelancer willing to perform small tasks for a fee. Or
a homeowner looking to rent her spare room to local
visitors. Or remote or marginalized population groups
who fall outside the reach of the services that governments
provide. In all these cases, a fundamental
Scale economies
and platforms
INNOVATION