Dirigiste Divide: How governments obstruct development and access to ICTs

The same barriers that prevent poor countries from becoming wealthy also prevent the poor from accessing information and communication technologies (ICTs). Attempting to correct for the so called ‘digital divide’ by subsidising the provision of ICTs is unlikely to be successful. The digital divide is actually part of a larger ‘dirigiste divide’ which results from the governments of poor countries imposing all manner of restrictions on entrepreneurial activity, from lack of respect for property rights to a failure to uphold the rule of law.