Transforming Global Information and Communication Markets: The Political Economy of Innovation (Information Revolution and Global Politics) - Hardcover

Cowhey, Peter F; Aronson, Professor Of Communication Annenberg School For Communication And Journalism And Professor Of International Relations Jonathan D

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0262012855 ISBN 13: 9780262012850

Publisher: MIT Press, 2009

Synopsis

Innovation in information and communication technology (ICT) fuels the growth of the global economy. How ICT markets evolve depends on politics and policy, and since the 1950s periodic overhauls of ICT policy have transformed competition and innovation. For example, in the 1980s and the 1990s a revolution in communication policy (the introduction of sweeping competition) also transformed the information market. Today, the diffusion of Internet, wireless, and broadband technology, growing modularity in the design of technologies, distributed computing infrastructures, and rapidly changing business models signal another shift.

This pathbreaking examination of ICT from a political economy perspective argues that continued rapid innovation and economic growth require new approaches in global governance that will reconcile diverse interests and enable competition to flourish. 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.

About this title

About the Author

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.

Review

"What a wonderful and remarkable book!

"Cowhey and Aronson make clear why Information and Communication Technologies are paramount for development, why good public policy is critical for countries to remain competitive, and why regulation is so hard to fine tune in a world of technological upheaval, global interdependence, and enormous economic and political interests. This book provides a route map for policy makers to navigate the turbulent waters that loom ahead as change accelerates. It is invaluable material for those interested in ICT's, development economics and regulatory policy."--Carlos Casasus, CEO of Mexico's Internet 2 Project, Former chairman of Mexico's Comision Federal de Telecomunicaciones and former Undersecretary for Communications and Technological Development in Mexico's Ministry of Communications and Transportation

"An astonishingly timely, hopeful, and important book that will influence our thinking about global governance and markets, international policy, and how our human institutions are organized. Eye-opening and totally sensible."--Warren Bennis, Distinguished Professor of Business, University of Southern California, author of "Transparency and Judgment"

"What a wonderful and remarkable book! "Transforming Global Information and Communications Markets" presents a broad vision, brimming with insights about communications markets all over the globe. It covers an extensive range of topics: the decline in the price of long-distance telephony, the development of 3G and distribution of profits from it, modularity in on-line content markets, the governance of the web, the transformation of broadcasting, and more. The book provides a coherent explanation for every important trend in modern communications markets. I could not put it down."--Shane M. Greenstein, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University

"I have never read a more astute analysis of how information technology and governments together have globalized every economy, producing winners and losers aplenty. Insights--like the importance of modularity and the power of ideas--abound. This is a must-read for technology business leaders who deal with government and for government officials who want their nations to succeed in world competition. A tour de force!"--Reed Hundt, former Chairman, FCC

"Traditionally in the game of international telecommunications the more advanced nations would simply champion the branded communications systems of their local industries. But the increasing interoperability and interchangeability of the component parts of the global information infrastructure, Cowhey and Aronson argue, changes the game. It is an inflection point defined by a new set of policy principles and strategic realities. This book is must reading for active players in the public and private sectors and students of the evolving global digital grid."--W. Russell Neuman, University of Michigan

Edition details

• Publisher: MIT Press
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0262012855
• ISBN 13: 9780262012850
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 341