Overview

While considerable attention has been focused on how information technologies (IT) are affecting particular industrialized nations, the broader implications of the Information Revolution have begun to be appreciated only in the past few years. This volume represents an important first step in understanding and coming to terms with the global impact of these technological advances. Based on a series of recent conferences, it distills the collective wisdom of an international group of some forty specialists in communications, trade, finance, development, and diplomacy. The authors identify the potential repercussions arising from the worldwide dissemination of IT and explore the adjustments and collective responses that may help to maximize benefits and reduce harmful effects. The introductory essays make it clear that while information technologies have created unprecedented opportunities for growth, they are drastically altering economic relations and promoting forms of economic interdependence that may have very serious consequences for individual nations and the world economy as a whole. Among the economic issues addressed in this volume are regulatory policy; barriers against information trade; the effects of IT on financial markets and international financial flows; the unequal distribution costs and benefits between developed and developing nations; the supranational power of multinational conglomerates; and economically harmful competition. The authors examine institutional changes that are affecting banking, finance, and trade, as well as legal questions relating to data flow privachy and intellectual property rights. They discuss the need for international cooperation and revised trade agreements to handle these complex new problems. Social and political issues, including education, employment, and democratic participation are also considered. Several chapters are devoted to recent innovations and anticipated developments in technology that will further effect global interdependence. The most authoritative, up-to-date source of information on the subject, this volume is recommended for practitioners and scholars concerned with public policy, international trade relations, finance, communications, information technology, and a variety of related fields.