Economic and Social Benefits of Internet Openness

Oecd

No 257, OECD Digital Economy Papers from OECD Publishing

Abstract: This report presents a framework for analysing Internet openness, the factors that influence it, and its effects. It also presents initial qualitative and quantitative evidence on the effects of Internet openness. Among the key findings are that Internet openness consists of many technical, economic and social elements and that overall openness is vital for reaping the Internet’s potential benefits. Those benefits include positive effects on trade, innovation and entrepreneurship, macroeconomic performance, and social wellbeing. However, openness also presents challenges, as bad actors sometimes take advantage of it when conducting malicious activities. While the global, decentralised and interconnected nature of the Internet prevents individual countries from determining openness unilaterally, governments nevertheless take policy actions that can affect openness. Policymakers should bear in mind that even though there are legitimate reasons for setting certain boundaries, drifting away from a general preference for Internet openness is economically and socially costly.

Date: 2016-06-17
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-net and nep-pay
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1787/5jlwqf2r97g5-en (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oec:stiaab:257-en

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in OECD Digital Economy Papers from OECD Publishing Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ().