Information technology use among individuals in rich and poor countries: The disappearing divide

摘要

According to the conventional measure the digital divide assigns the same weight to each country regardless of its population size. In this note by contrast the divide is conceptualized as the absolute number of Internet users and mobile phone subscribers in developed as against developing countries. On this basis I find that the conventional gap in IT use between these countries either shrinks dramatically or is actually reversed. In estimating the new measure the role of China turns out to be central.