From kragen@dnaco.net Wed Sep 23 11:07:16 1998 Date: Wed, 23 Sep 1998 11:07:14 -0400 (EDT) From: Kragen X-Sender: kragen@pike To: Brian Webster cc: rebecalist@bossanova.com, mobrien@erinet.com Subject: Re: Grameen Communications / IT access for the poor In-Reply-To: <199809230224.TAA23012@mail3.sirius.com> Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Keywords: X-UID: 2095 Status: O X-Status: On Tue, 22 Sep 1998, Brian Webster wrote: > write more about this topic. Sorry for the length, but it's a long article. > -Brian Thanks for posting it here! > At a press session after his [Andy Grove's] presentation I was able to ask > him this question, > > "According to UNESCO research 50% of the world's people have never > made or received a phone call. Is this research available on the Web? If not, how can I get hold of a copy? > . . . He said, " Basically it is > a matter of looking at a glass as half empty or half full. The future for > connecting the other half will be a progression based on the fundamental > forces and trends that got us to where we are now and are continuing to > drive economic development today." I don't think this is true, or can possibly be true. But maybe I've misunderstood what he's saying. One of the major forces behind the PC revolution here has been people going out and buying a brand new PC with their own money. This is not possible when you make $30 a month; even with today's prices, you'd still have to save up two years' wages to buy a new PC. The Grameen Telecom approach you describe sounds much different from the approach taken here in the US, but also very viable. > . . . doorsteps will bring multiple benefits to both the Cyber Kiosk > owners and the people in their communities. For example, unemployed, educated > young women will be able, with some training, to do data entry and > perform transcription services for any company in the world, a much > better alternative than moving to squalid urban slums to work in factories. Data entry would seem to require a different sort of access than the Grameen Telecom approach -- in particular, you need access to a computer constantly while you work, which probably has to be several hours a day to make any money. (Maybe I'm pessimistic. You could earn $250 a year by doing two hours of data entry a week at $2.50 an hour, and it seems like many people ought to be willing to pay that.) > And farmers will benefit from being able to find the price of their produce > in a much larger area through the Internet. This is a big telephone-like win -- you need only a little bit of time, perhaps an hour or two a year, to get a big win. > In general, making information > available will reduce economic inefficiencies as well as exploitation of the > poor, while at the same time bringing jobs to their doorsteps. Absolutely true. It does have a few minor problems, though. If it's hard for people to work across state lines, you can effectively regulate the labor market on a statewide basis. For example, you can impose minimum wages and job-hazard laws. But if it's easy to have someone work for you in a different state, the minimum wages and job-hazard laws will have to be national to be effective. If it's easy to have someone do data entry for you in Bangladesh, then data-entry workers here will be protected only to the extent that the laws of Bangladesh protect data-entry workers there -- if an employer decides that it's in their interest to pay $1 an hour, for example, and provide no benefits, then they can do it. Global markets are inimical to certain kinds of laws attempting to regulate markets. There are those who claim that free markets will eliminate the needs for such laws, and they prove it mathematically with certain idealized models of selfish people and free markets. I am not one of them. I have seen people act against everyone's best interests, including their own, many times -- out of ignorance, stupidity, short-sightedness, inability to think for themselves, uncertainty, etc. I think we need laws restricting free markets. I don't see how it can be bad for the Bangladeshis, though, and it'll be good in the long run for all of us. Kragen -- Kragen Sitaker The sages do not believe that making no mistakes is a blessing. They believe, rather, that the great virtue of man lies in his ability to correct his mistakes and continually make a new man of himself. -- Wang Yang-Ming