Download or read book Infrastructure and Land Policies written by Gregory K. Ingram and published by Lincoln Inst of Land Policy. This book was released on 2013 with total page 438 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than 50 percent of the global population resides in urban areas where land policy and infrastructure interactions facilitate economic opportunities, affect the quality of life, and influence patterns of urban development. While infrastructure is as old as cities, technological changes and public policies on taxation and regulation produce new issues worthy of analysis, ranging from megaprojects and greenhouse gas emissions to involuntary resettlement. This volume, based on the 2012 seventh annual Land Policy Conference at the Lincoln Institute, brings together economists, social scientists, urban planners, and engineers to discuss how infrastructure issues impact low-, middle-, and high-income countries. Infrastructure drives economic and social activities. For urban areas, the challenges of balancing economic growth with infrastructure development and maintenance are reflected in debates about finance, regulation, and location and about the sustainable levels of infrastructure services. Relevant sectors include energy (electricity and natural gas); telecommunications (phone lines, mobile phone service, and Internet); transportation (airports, railways, roads, waterways, and seaports); and water supply and sanitation (piped water, irrigation, and sewage collection and treatment). Recent research shows that inadequate infrastructure is associated with income inequality. This is likely linked to the delivery of infrastructure services to households, such as direct health benefits, improved access to education, and enhanced economic opportunities. Because so much infrastructure is energy intensive, efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other negative impacts must address services such as electric power and transport. Bringing the management of infrastructure up to levels of good practice has a large economic payoff, and performance levels vary dramatically between and within countries. A crucial unmet challenge is to convince policy makers and voters that large economic returns can result from improving infrastructure performance and maintenance.

Download or read book World Development Report 1994 written by and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1994 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: World Development Report 1994 examines the link between infrastructure and development and explores ways in which developing countries can improve both the provision and the quality of infrastructure services. In recent decades, developing countries have made substantial investments in infrastructure, achieving dramatic gains for households and producers by expanding their access to services such as safe water, sanitation, electric power, telecommunications, and transport. Even more infrastructure investment and expansion are needed in order to extend the reach of services - especially to people living in rural areas and to the poor. But as this report shows, the quantity of investment cannot be the exclusive focus of policy. Improving the quality of infrastructure service also is vital. Both quantity and quality improvements are essential to modernize and diversify production, help countries compete internationally, and accommodate rapid urbanization. The report identifies the basic cause of poor past performance as inadequate institutional incentives for improving the provision of infrastructure. To promote more efficient and responsive service delivery, incentives need to be changed through commercial management, competition, and user involvement. Several trends are helping to improve the performance of infrastructure. First, innovation in technology and in the regulatory management of markets makes more diversity possible in the supply of services. Second, an evaluation of the role of government is leading to a shift from direct government provision of services to increasing private sector provision and recent experience in many countries with public-private partnerships is highlighting new ways to increase efficiency and expand services. Third, increased concern about social and environmental sustainability has heightened public interest in infrastructure design and performance.

Download or read book 2006 Information and Communications for Development written by and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2006-01-01 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: """The report is essential reading for policy makers, government workers, and academics pursuing the goal of equitable, sustainable development across the world."" - N. R. Narayana Murthy, Chairman and Chief Mentor Infosys Technologies Ltd. Information and communication technology (ICT) is rapidly evolving, changing rich and poor societies alike. It has become a powerful tool for participating in the global economy and for offering new opportunities for development efforts. ICT can and should advance economic growth and reduce poverty in developing countries. It has been 20 years since the first telephone operator was privatized, a little over 10 since the World Wide Web emerged, and 5 since the telecommunications bubble burst. How have the ICT sector and its role in development evolved? What have we learned? How can we move forward? Information and Communications for Development 2006: Global Trends and Policies contains lessons from both developed and developing countries. It examines the roles of the public and private sectors, identifying the challenges and the benefits of adopting and expanding ICT use. The report assesses topics essential to building an information society, including investment, access, diffusion, and country policies and strategies. Assessing what has worked, what hasn't, and why, this report is an invaluable guide for understanding how to capture the benefits of ICT around the world."

Download or read book The Changing Nature of Telecommunications Information Infrastructure written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1995-04-27 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Advancement of telecommunications and information infrastructure occurs largely through private investment. The government affects the rate and direction of this progress through regulation and public investment. This book presents a range of positions and perspectives on those two classes of policy mechanism, providing a succinct analysis followed by papers prepared by experts in telecommunications policy and applications.

Download or read book 2009 Information and Communications for Development written by World Bank and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2009-01-01 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the last decade, information and communication technologies (ICT) have been increasingly used to achieve development goals. Developing countries, including poorer ones, have enjoyed rapid technological progress to help pull millions of people out of poverty. ICTs help transform economic and social activities for firms, governments and citizens. Information and Communication for Development 2009: Scaling Up Impact, the second issue of the World Bank's IC4D series, focuses on the effect of increased access to advanced ICT services and development of a vibrant IT sector on sustaining growth.

Download or read book Strategic Infrastructure Development for Economic Growth and Social Change written by Nilanjan Ray and published by Business Science Reference. This book was released on 2015 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This book explores different avenues of research in the areas of corporate governance, socioeconomic conditions, modern business infrastructure, business automation, strategic financial management, and financial aspects of modern businesses"--

Download or read book Reforming Infrastructure written by Ioannis Nicolaos Kessides and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2004 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Electricity, natural gas, telecommunications, railways, and water supply, are often vertically and horizontally integrated state monopolies. This results in weak services, especially in developing and transition economies, and for poor people. Common problems include low productivity, high costs, bad quality, insufficient revenue, and investment shortfalls. Many countries over the past two decades have restructured, privatized and regulated their infrastructure. This report identifies the challenges involved in this massive policy redirection. It also assesses the outcomes of these changes, as well as their distributional consequences for poor households and other disadvantaged groups. It recommends directions for future reforms and research to improve infrastructure performance, identifying pricing policies that strike a balance between economic efficiency and social equity, suggesting rules governing access to bottleneck infrastructure facilities, and proposing ways to increase poor people's access to these crucial services.

Download or read book Government Guarantees written by Timothy Irwin and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2007 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book considers when governments should give guarantees to private investors. After describing the history of guarantees, and the challenges the politics and psychology create for good decisions, the book sets out a principles for allocating risk (and therefore guarantees), techniques for valuing guarantees, and rules to encourage good decisions.

Download or read book Meeting Asia s Infrastructure Needs written by Asian Development Bank and published by Asian Development Bank. This book was released on 2017-02-01 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Infrastructure is essential for development. This report presents a snapshot of the current condition of developing Asia's infrastructure---defined here as transport, power, telecommunications, and water supply and sanitation. It examines how much the region has been investing in infrastructure and what will likely be needed through 2030. Finally, it analyzes the financial and institutional challenges that will shape future infrastructure investment and development.

Download or read book Taxing Telecommunications in Developing Countries written by Ms.Thornton Matheson and published by International Monetary Fund. This book was released on 2017-11-15 with total page 42 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Developing countries apply numerous sector-specific taxes to telecommunications, whose buoyant revenues and formal enterprises provide a convenient “tax handle”. This paper explores whether there is an economic rationale for sector-specific taxes on telecommunications and, if so, what form they should take to balance the competing goals of promoting connectivity and mobilizing revenues. A survey of the literature finds that limited telecoms competition likely creates rents that could efficiently be taxed. We propose a “pecking order” of sector-specific taxes that could be levied in addition to standard income and value-added taxes, based on capturing rents and minimizing distortions. Taxes that target possible economic rents or profits are preferable, but their administrative challenges may necessitate reliance on service excises at the cost of higher consumer prices and lower connectivity. Taxes on capital inputs and consumer access, which distort production and restrict network access, should be avoided; so should tax incentives, which are not needed to attract foreign capital to tap a local market.

Download or read book Leapfrogging Development written by J. P. Singh and published by SUNY Press. This book was released on 1999-08-12 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Examines how developing countries have restructured their telecommunications in order to "leapfrog" or accelerate development.

Download or read book Information Technology for Development Volume 13 Number 2 written by Sajda Qureshi and published by Wiley. This book was released on 2007-05-04 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A journal examining the impact of global IT from a publisher of quality research Information Technology for Development is a journal that specifically addresses global information technology issues and opportunities. It's dedicated to providing quality research, including social and technical research regarding information technology's effects on economic, social and human development. This journal's purpose includes serving as a forum for discussions about strategies, best practices, tools and techniques for assessing the impact of IT infrastructure, whether it's in government or the private sector. This is a single issue of the journal, Volume 13, Number 2, from 2007.

Download or read book Infrastructure to 2030 Telecom Land Transport Water and Electricity written by OECD and published by OECD Publishing. This book was released on 2006-06-29 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This long-term examination of future infrastructure needs examines what will be required, how it will be financed, and how such factors as climate change, globalisation, and urbanisation will affect these needs.

Download or read book Telecommunications Regulation Handbook written by Hank Intven and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Information and Communications for Development 2018 written by World Bank and published by Information and Communications. This book was released on 2019 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Information and Communications for Development series looks in depth at how information and communications technologies are affecting economic growth in developing countries. This new report, the fourth in the series, examines the topic of data-driven development, or how better information makes for better policies. The objective is to assist developing-country firms and governments in unlocking the value of the data they hold for better service delivery and decision making and to empower individuals to take more control of their personal data. We are undoubtedly experiencing a data revolution in which our ability to generate, process, and utilize information has been magnified many times over by the machines that we increasingly rely upon. This report is about how the data revolution is changing the behavior of governments, individuals, and firms and how these changes affect the nature of development: economic, social, and cultural. How can governments extract value from data to improve service delivery in the same way that private companies have learned to do for profit? Is it feasible for individuals to take ownership of their own data and to use it to improve their livelihoods and quality of life? Can developing-country firms compete with the internet majors on their own turf and be even more innovative in their use of data to serve local customers better? Though the report is aimed primarily at government policy makers, it also has great relevance for individuals concerned about how their personal data is used and how the data revolution might affect their future job prospects. For private sector firms, particularly those in developing countries, the report suggests how they might expand their markets and improve their competitive edge. For development professionals, the report provides guidance on how they might use data more creatively to tackle long-standing global challenges, such as eliminating extreme poverty, promoting shared prosperity, or mitigating the effects of climate change. The report's chapters explore different themes associated with the supply of data, the technology underlying it, and the demand for it. An overview chapter focuses on government use of data and presentation of definitions. Part I of the report then looks at the "supply side" of the data sector, with chapters on data connectivity and capacity (where data comes from, how it is stored, and where it goes) and data technology (specifically big data analytics and artificial intelligence) and how this is contributing to development. Part II looks at the sector's "demand side," with a chapter on people's use of data and another that examines how firms use digital platforms in the data economy and how that contributes to competitiveness. Part III brings together the policy implications for developing-country stakeholders, with a chapter considering government policies for data, including data protection and privacy. A closing Data Notes appendix looks at statistical indicators associated with the use of data and presents the 2018 update of the Digital Adoption Index (DAI), a composite indicator introduced in the 2016 World Development Report: Digital Dividends.

Download or read book The World Bank Research Observer written by and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Technology Policy written by and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This document contains transcriptions of testimony and prepared statements on national technology policy with a focus on President Clinton and Vice President Gore's initiatives to support the development of a national information infrastructure. On the first day of the hearing testimony was received from Edward H. Salmon, Chairman, New Jersey Board of Regulatory Commissioners; Robert Pepper, Chief, Office of Plans and Policy, Federal Communications Commission; Vinton G. Cerf, Vice President, Corporation for National Research Initiatives and President, Internet Society; Richard R. Green, President and CEO, Cable Television Laboratories, Boulder, Colorado; Brian Kushner, Vice President, Corporate Development, Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation, Austin, Texas, and E. R. Kerkeslager, Vice President, Technology and Infrastructure, AT&T, Basking Ridge, New Jersey, representing the Computer Systems Policy Proejct. Witnesses testifying on the second day were Donald A. B. Lindberg, Director, National Coordination Office for High Performance Computing and Communications, and Director, National Library of Medicine; Salim A. L. Bhatia, President, Broadband Technologies, Inc., Research Triangle Park, North Carolina; Sidney Karin, Director, San Diego Supercomputer Center, San Diego, California; Stephen Gage, President, Cleveland Advanced Manufacturing Program, Cleveland, Ohio; T. J. Rodgers, President and CEO, Cypress Semiconductor, San Jose, California; and Jeffrey Kalb, President and CEO, MASPAR Computer Corporation, Sunnyvale, California, representing the American Electronics Association. (KRN)