Publication:
The Private Sector and the Internet

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Files in English
English PDF (740.5 KB)
241 downloads
English Text (18.87 KB)
40 downloads
Date
1997-07
ISSN
Published
1997-07
Editor(s)
Abstract
The authors look at the rise of the Internet as the main application behind the emerging global information infrastructure. Many now believe that the Internet provides a window into a future in which access to information will be independent of geographic location and interactivity in a multimedia environment will be ubiquitous. The authors review the need for a regulatory framework for the Internet in three critical areas: provision of backbone access, Internet service providers, and information services. They also explore the problem of the appropriability of content, discussing intellectual property rights in the digital era and other remedies to the cost recovery problem. For developing countries, however, the critical bottleneck is still their weak information infrastructure.
Link to Data Set
Citation
Braga, Carlos A. Primo; Fink, Carsten. 1997. The Private Sector and the Internet. Viewpoint: Public Policy for the Private Sector; Note No. 122. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/11580 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.
Associated URLs
Associated content
Report Series
Report Series
Viewpoint
Other publications in this report series
  • Publication
    Competition and Poverty
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-04) Begazo, Tania; Nyman, Sara
    A literature review shows competition policy reforms can deliver benefits for the poorest households and improve income distribution. A lack of competition in food markets hurts the poorest households the most. Competition in input markets and between buyers helps farmers and small businesses. And more competitive markets bolster job growth over the longer term. More research is needed, however, to better understand the impact of competition reforms and antitrust enforcement on poverty and shared prosperity.
  • Publication
    Small Business Tax Regimes
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-02) Coolidge, Jacqueline; Yilmaz, Fatih
    Simplified tax regimes for micro and small enterprises in developing countries are intended to facilitate voluntary tax compliance. However, survey evidence suggests that small business taxation based on simplified bookkeeping or turnover is sometimes perceived as too complex for microenterprises in countries with high illiteracy levels. Very simple fixed tax regimes not requiring any books or records tend to be overly popular but prone to abuse. System reforms will require more precise tailoring of the simplified regimes to their target beneficiaries, coupled with strong compliance management to detect and deter abuse. The overall objective of simplified taxation for micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in developing countries is generally to facilitate voluntary tax compliance and remove obstacles in moving toward business formalization and growth.
  • Publication
    Export Competitiveness
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-06) Goodwin, Tanja; Pierola, Martha Denisse
    This review of the empirical literature shows that industries with more intense domestic competition will export more. Competition law enforcement can be traced to export performance and is complementary to trade reforms. Pro-competition market regulation that reduces restrictions and promotes competition, where it is viable, is an important determinant for trade. The elimination of barriers to entry and rivalry, and a level playing field in upstream sectors contributes to export competitiveness in downstream manufacturing sectors. In some sectors, effective competition policy can directly lower trade costs.
  • Publication
    Investment Climate in Africa
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-07-01) Bridgman, David; Adamali, Aref
    The World Bank Group has been working on investment climate reform in Sub-Saharan Africa for nearly a decade, a period characterized by dramatic economic growth on the continent. Establishing links between such reform interventions and economic growth, however, is a complex problem. Although this note finds some connection between investment climate reform and economic growth, establishing more concrete evidence of causation will require greater focus at the country level, as well as on small and medium enterprises. This is where investment climate interventions generate change.
  • Publication
    Contract Farming
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-10) Minot, Nicholas; Ronchi, Loraine
    Contract farming involves production by farmers under agreement with buyers for their outputs. This arrangement can help integrate small-scale farmers into modern agricultural value chains, providing them with inputs, technical assistance, and assured markets. Critics contend that contract partners may subject farmers to abuses. The literature shows that in fact contract farming can raise farm income, but mainly for high-value crops. It also indicates that in many cases firms are willing to work with small farms. This note confirms that conflicts are common between buyers and farmers, and that alternative dispute resolution methods may help resolve them.
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Publication
    ICT Indicators and Implications for Methods for Assessing Socioeconomic Impact of ICT
    (Washington, DC, 2012) World Bank
    This report is being delivered pursuant to the agreement (Agreement) between the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology of the Arab Republic of Egypt (MCIT) and the World Bank (Bank) for the provision by the Bank of technical assistance (RTA) to MCIT and certain of its affiliates. One of those affiliates is the Information Technology Industry Development Authority (ITIDA). When it comes to designing and implementing ICT policies, the availability of proper indicators is key to efficiency and effectiveness. However, the indicators should go further, and should help policymakers also to measure how well the sector or projects are performing, provide an assessment over time on the status of a project, program, or policy, promote credibility and public confidence by reporting on the results of programs, provide in-depth information about public sector performance, help formulate and justify budget requests, and identify potentially promising programs or practices for duplication or scalability. Thus, this report is composed of the following sections: (i) a discussion of indicator types, in particular impact indicators and their constraints; (ii) an overview of the institutional setup of ICT data in Egypt; (iii) ICT data categories and methodologies used by major international indices and reports, including an analysis of Egypt's strong and weak results in the indices; (iv) a mapping and gap analysis between the indices' indicators and those currently collected by Egypt; (v) a set of recommendations for Egypt and (vi) implications of this work with respect to analyzing the socioeconomic impact of ICTs on investment, trade, growth and education in Egypt.
  • Publication
    Information and Communication Technologies for Health Systems Strengthening
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-01) Otto, Kate; Shekar, Meera; Herbst, Christopher H.; Mohammed, Rianna
    Information and communication technologies (ICT) for health or eHealth solutions hold great potential for generating systemic efficiencies by strengthening five critical pillars of a health system: human resources for health, supply chain management, health care financing, governance and service delivery, and infrastructure. This report describes the changing landscape of eHealth initiatives through these five pillars, with a geographic focus on Sub-Saharan Africa. This report further details seven criteria, or prerequisites, that must be considered and addressed in order to effectively establish and scale up ICT-based solutions in the health sector. These criteria include infrastructure, data and interoperability standards, local capacity, policy and regulatory environments, an appropriate business model, alignment of partnerships and priorities, and monitoring and evaluation. In order to bring specific examples of these criteria to light, this report concludes with 12 specific case studies of potentially scalable ICT-based health care solutions currently being implemented across the globe at community, national, and regional levels. This report is intended to be used by development practitioners, including task team leaders at the World Bank, to strengthen their understanding of the use of ICT to support health systems strengthening (HSS) efforts as well as to highlight critical prerequisites needed to optimize the benefits of ICT for health.
  • Publication
    Information Technology Security Handbook
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2003) Sadowsky, George; Dempsey, James X.; Greenberg, Alan; Mack, Barbara J.; Schwartz, Alan
    Informational and Communication Technologies (ICT) plays a fundamental role for social and economic development. Similarly, it is recognized that there cannot be an effective use of ICT in the absence of a safe and trusted ICT environment. Thus, IT security plays a prime role in helping creating the environment needed to set the ground for implementing successful national ICT plans, e-Government or e-Commerce activities, as well as sectoral projects, such as, for example, in the areas of education, health, or finance. IT security is a complex topic and evolves almost as fast as technology does. The authors provide technology-independent best practices, as well as recommendations for particular IT environments. As technology evolves, the accompanying web site (www.infodev-security.net) will provide updates as appropriate, allowing for a constant dissemination of developments in the field of IT security. The book is composed of five parts, each of which can be read independently. After an introduction to general issues of IT security, the book addresses issues relevant specifically to individuals, small and medium organizations, government, and technical administrators. Although most of the research and publications on IT security comes from developed countries, the authors have attempted to provide practical guidance applicable anywhere and to include examples from developing countries.
  • Publication
    ICT Sector Policy Note for Panama : Enabling Inclusive Development through Information and Communications Technologies
    (2014-08-06) World Bank
    The Government of Panama and the private sector recognize the importance of information and communications technology (ICT) as an enabler of national development. This ICT sector policy note seeks to identify opportunities and challenges for growth of the ICT sector in Panama, particularly on rural access to broadband services and on cybersecurity, and potential for spillover impacts across other sectors. It provides a brief overview of the ICT sector in Panama and outlines a series of strategic actions and recommendations aimed at leveraging ICT as an engine of growth by targeting connectivity infrastructure, policies, regulation, e-Services, public data, and skills. The report is organized as follows: section one presents ICT sector in the economy. Section two deals with offer for connectivity. Section three presents demand. Section four describes the sector status from the cybersecurity point of view. Based on these analyses, section five identifies challenges that are hindering the growth of the industry, and section six presents policy options to overcome them. Finally, the World Bank describes the ways it can support those policy options in section seven and presents a set of joint activities in section eight.
  • Publication
    Building Broadband : Strategies and Policies for the Developing World
    (World Bank, 2010) Kim, Yongsoo; Kelly, Tim; Raja, Siddhartha
    This book suggests an ecosystem approach to broadband policy that could help in the design of strategies, policies, and programs that support network expansion, have the potential to transform economies, improve the quality and range of services, enable application development, and broaden adoption among users. To identify emerging best practices to nurture this ecosystem, this volume analyzes the Republic of Korea and other leading broadband markets. It identifies three building blocks to support the growth of the broadband ecosystem: defining visionary but flexible strategies, using competition to promote market growth, and facilitating demand. An important but often neglected building block is demand facilitation. This includes raising awareness about the benefits of broadband and improving affordability and accessibility for the largest number of users. Successful countries have often focused on creating a suite of useful applications that increase the relevance of broadband to the widest base of users. Programs to mainstream information and communication technology (ICT) use in education, health, or government have been common.

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

  • Publication
    Economic Recovery
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-04-06) Malpass, David; Georgieva, Kristalina; Yellen, Janet
    World Bank Group President David Malpass spoke about the world facing major challenges, including COVID, climate change, rising poverty and inequality and growing fragility and violence in many countries. He highlighted vaccines, working closely with Gavi, WHO, and UNICEF, the World Bank has conducted over one hundred capacity assessments, many even more before vaccines were available. The World Bank Group worked to achieve a debt service suspension initiative and increased transparency in debt contracts at developing countries. The World Bank Group is finalizing a new climate change action plan, which includes a big step up in financing, building on their record climate financing over the past two years. He noted big challenges to bring all together to achieve GRID: green, resilient, and inclusive development. Janet Yellen, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, mentioned focusing on vulnerable people during the pandemic. Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, focused on giving everyone a fair shot during a sustainable recovery. All three commented on the importance of tackling climate change.
  • Publication
    Making Procurement Work Better – An Evaluation of the World Bank’s Procurement System
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-12-06) World Bank
    This evaluation assesses the results, successes, and challenges of the World Bank 2016 procurement reform. Procurements acquire the works, goods, and services necessary to achieve the World Bank’s project development outcomes. The World Bank’s procurement processes must ensure that clients get the best value for every development dollar. In 2016, the World Bank reformed its procurement system for Investment Project Financing and launched a new procurement framework aimed at enhancing the Bank’s development effectiveness through better procurement. The reform sought to reduce procurement bottlenecks impeding project performance and modernize procurement systems. It emphasized cutting edge international good practice principles and was intended to be accompanied by procurement capacity strengthening to help client countries. This evaluation offers three recommendations to scale up reform implementation and enhance portfolio and project performance: (i) Improve change management support for the reform’s implementation. (ii) Strategically strengthen country-level procurement capacity. (iii) Consistently manage the full spectrum of procurement risks to maximize project success.
  • Publication
    Media and Messages for Nutrition and Health
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-06) Calleja, Ramon V., Jr.; Mbuya, Nkosinathi V.N.; Morimoto, Tomo; Thitsy, Sophavanh
    The Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) has experienced rapid and significant economic growth over the past decade. However, poor nutritional outcomes remain a concern. Rates of childhood undernutrition are particularly high in remote, rural, and upland areas. Media have the potential to play an important role in shaping health and nutrition–related behaviors and practices as well as in promoting sociocultural and economic development that might contribute to improved nutritional outcomes. This report presents the results of a media audit (MA) that was conducted to inform the development and production of mass media advocacy and communication strategies and materials with a focus on maternal and child health and nutrition that would reach the most people from the poorest communities in northern Lao PDR. Making more people aware of useful information, essential services and products and influencing them to use these effectively is the ultimate goal of mass media campaigns, and the MA measures the potential effectiveness of media efforts to reach this goal. The effectiveness of communication channels to deliver health and nutrition messages to target beneficiaries to ensure maximum reach and uptake can be viewed in terms of preferences, satisfaction, and trust. Overall, the four most accessed media channels for receiving information among communities in the study areas were village announcements, mobile phones, television, and out-of-home (OOH) media. Of the accessed media channels, the top three most preferred channels were village announcements (40 percent), television (26 percent), and mobile phones (19 percent). In terms of trust, village announcements were the most trusted source of information (64 percent), followed by mobile phones (14 percent) and television (11 percent). Hence of all the media channels, village announcements are the most preferred, have the most satisfied users, and are the most trusted source of information in study communities from four provinces in Lao PDR with some of the highest burden of childhood undernutrition.
  • Publication
    Remarks at the United Nations Biodiversity Conference
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-10-12) Malpass, David
    World Bank Group President David Malpass discussed biodiversity and climate change being closely interlinked, with terrestrial and marine ecosystems serving as critically important carbon sinks. At the same time climate change acts as a direct driver of biodiversity and ecosystem services loss. The World Bank has financed biodiversity conservation around the world, including over 116 million hectares of Marine and Coastal Protected Areas, 10 million hectares of Terrestrial Protected Areas, and over 300 protected habitats, biological buffer zones and reserves. The COVID pandemic, biodiversity loss, climate change are all reminders of how connected we are. The recovery from this pandemic is an opportunity to put in place more effective policies, institutions, and resources to address biodiversity loss.
  • Publication
    Mexico Poverty and Equity Assessment
    (Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-02-20) World Bank
    This Mexico Poverty and Equity Assessment reviews the evidence about poverty and equity in Mexico over the last two decades, compares it to comparable international experience, and identifies a set of critical areas of policy intervention to answer the opening question. The report aims at contributing to an open conversation in Mexico about how to achieve this essential policy objective. This report postulates three main policy areas needed for poverty eradication in Mexico: inclusive growth, efficient social policy, and infrastructure to confront vulnerability. The report includes four sections, the first three of which collect evidence about poverty, social deprivations, and vulnerability and how the evolution of these three correlates to patterns of economic growth, social protection policy and territorial development. The fourth section provides some quantitative benchmarks of what it would take to eradicate extreme poverty in Mexico. Poverty in Mexico is defined not only in monetary terms, but also in a multidimensional manner that includes social deprivations. These are social deprivations that often define formal-vs-informal employment, so policy changes that close these carencias, as they are called in Mexico, will also reduce the informality gap. This report documents the evolution of poverty, social deprivations, and vulnerability to poverty. It explains the main forces that have driven this evolution and advises that many of these forces may not operate the same in the future as they did in the past. It provides the basis to argue that short to medium term extreme poverty eradication requires newer policy actions in terms of inclusive growth, more efficient social policy, and investments in physical and social infrastructure to reduce vulnerability. The report indicates that short to medium term eradication to extreme poverty is a major, but within reach, development challenge for Mexico.