Transforming Global Information and Communication Markets―The Political Economy of Innovation

Innovation in information and communication technology (ICT) fuels the growth of theglobal economy. How ICT markets evolve depends on politics and policy, and since the 1950s periodicoverhauls of ICT policy have transformed competition and innovation. For example, in the 1980s andthe 1990s a revolution in communication policy (the introduction of sweeping competition) alsotransformed the information market. Today, the diffusion of Internet, wireless, and broadbandtechnology, growing modularity in the design of technologies, distributed computing infrastructures,and rapidly changing business models signal another shift. This pathbreaking examination of ICT froma political economy perspective argues that continued rapid innovation and economic growth requirenew approaches in global governance that will reconcile diverse interests and enable competition toflourish. The authors (two of whom were architects of international ICT policy reforms in the 1990s)discuss this crucial turning point in both theoretical and practical terms.

Peter F. Cowhey, a former senior FCC official, is Dean of the School of International Relations and Pacific Studies and Qualcomm Endowed Chair in Communications and Technology Policy at the University of California, San Diego.