Should one focus on science and technology or on traditional policy reform and capacity building?
It is certainly useful to think through how advances in science, technology and especially in information technology (IT) affect growth, as well as opportunity, empowerment and security for the poor in the MICs. IT can help empower people, including the poor. For example, Estonia has a program of digital connection of schools and homes; Thailand has a program of providing internet access to rural communities, with support from the World Bank; many countries are now experimenting with the development of distance learning – all of these are innovations that help people learn, gain access to information, express their opinions and be heard. Helping the poor benefit from these innovations is an important, and by no means impossible challenge. Nonetheless, the better the environment within which science, technology and IT is placed, the more effective will it be. Hence, the continued importance of capacity building, good policies, incentives and institutions. So far we have considered econo
