Infomediation | What can Hirschman tell us about the digital economy and development?

This is a short blog piece on the ict4dblog discussing whether Hirschman’s conceptualisation of economic growth are relevant for digital development

While there is a growing appetite for digital rules, what we don’t have yet are clear frameworks by which these different policy ideas can cohere into overarching (and successful) digital development strategies.

In this post, I consider whether Albert Hirschman’s models of unbalanced growth might provide a useful framework to guide policy strategies.

Read full blog post

This article in Bot populi, discusses a summary of my recent paper which examines the concept of “variety” and how it links into platform expansion

Analysis of the global expansion of digital platforms has led to growing debate. Often under the heading of platform capitalism, the focus has been on how platforms are rapidly advancing across sectors, centralizing power within Big Tech and leading to new forms of value capture and labor precarity across the globe.

In these debates, the attention has mainly been on the ‘platform’ element of platform capitalism and the mechanisms by which platforms are operating. But more can be said about the “capitalism” side. We know that platforms are typically capitalist enterprises but how are platforms altering how capitalism is developing, and its future directions?

Full article available here

To accompany a short paper I presented at IFIP 9.4 online conference, I have written a blog post “Global transfers: M-Pesa and intellectual property rights” that discusses recent research on M-Pesa and its IPR

In July 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, Kenyan mobile operator Safaricom announced a significant event – the intellectual property rights (IPR) for the mobile money service M-Pesa was finally “moving back into African control”. For this, it paid a sum of £7m to its UK-based parent company Vodafone.

The announcement didn’t receive much commentary at the time, but it raises a number of critical questions – Who controls the IPR of M-Pesa? Wasn’t M-Pesa created in Kenya, so why did Safaricom need to buy the IPR?

See blog post on Manchester CDD blog

“Why we must act now to confront the new global digital divide” is short article written by Shamel Azmeh and myself for a one-off publication from Policy@Manchester called “On Digital Inequalities“. It examines the digital divide through the lens of economic inclusion and global platforms, discussing what this means in terms of policies of digital inclusion

Over recent decades, concern has been mounting over the issue of the digital divide – the unequal access to the latest technology and the networks that support it. This issue has attracted growing attention from policymakers and NGOs at national and international levels. Efforts have typically focused on maximising the benefits that come from the digital economy by expanding inclusion, especially in developing countries. This has led to programmes supporting local content creation and the building of internet skills and infrastructure. Many studies highlight the positive impacts of such initiatives, in areas such as financial inclusion, access to information and better government services. Clearly this is an important foundation, but is it enough?

Full article – online | as PDF

Sixth tone, an online website focussing on issues in China and the region, has a short article about some of my early work on E-commerce in South East Asia.

“Chinese-backed startups are evangelizing e-commerce in the region, but they need to be careful not to alienate local merchants.”

Full article on Sixth Tone

This is a short article on the University of Manchester website to support a new paper by myself and Shamel Azmeh on latecomer economies and national digital policy.

I recenltly wrote a short article for the Manchester ict4dblog. It explores the recent Jumia IPO filing and the insights is gives us about African e-commerce

There has been growing discussion about the potential of e-commerce in developing countries. This discussion intensified recently when pan-African e-commerce firm Jumia went public in the US, becoming the “first African unicorn”.

The IPO prospectus, a 270-page outline of the firm released as part of this filing, has sparked much debate…..I will discuss the insights that the prospectus provides us about e-commerce platforms operating in Africa.

This is especially useful as we have been struggling with a lack of detail on e-commerce, with firms reluctant to share commercially sensitive information

See full post on the ict4d blog

Based on our research on digital trade, Shamel Azmeh and myself have written an article in The Conversation, outlining the recent activities and discussions.

At the heart of the current US trade war with China is tariffs on imports like steel, sorghum and silicon chips. But, with the growing role of data and digital technology in the world economy, a new arena of digital trade conflict is on the cards.

Read full article on The Conversation

I have a new blog post on the Sheffield Institute of International Development (SIID) blog entitled “Measuring innovation amongst marginal producers: Implications of evidence-based policy”.

In it, I discuss a recent paper that looks at how to measure and better understand small-scale innovation amongst marginalised groups

Research on innovation in the global south has increasingly highlighted the importance of continuous, small-scale innovation for small producers and farmers – be that an adapted machine or an improvised farming technique. Stemming from such research, there have been calls for innovation policy to better consider such activity, to ensure that innovation does not just support large industries but also the development of marginal groups.

…In a recent paper, ODI economist Aarti Krishnan and myself developed a new approach to measuring small-scale innovation; we then use this approach to explore innovation in value chains in the Kenyan horticulture sector.

See the full article on the SIID blog