Broadband, Business Formation, and Economic Growth in the Global South: Assessing China’s Impact - American Affairs Journal
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An historic irony is that the Communist Party of China has fostered an unprecedented wave of entrepreneurship in the developing world, by building mobile broadband networks throughout the Global South. A notionally communist party, that is, has become the most effective propagator of capitalism on record. This conclusion is richly supported by data on broadband…
  • loathsome dongeaterMAEnglish
    4·
    1 year ago

    A notionally communist party, that is, has become the most effective propagator of capitalism on record.

    Goddamn it you just cannot escape this shit anywhere.

    I am wondering what exactly they mean by broadband. I don’t know much about internet hardware, but while the article correctly states that India has a low rate of broadband penetration there is also the factor wireless data and 4G networks are becoming quite common. I am a bit out of touch with the rural situation though. Regardless, with the way the author fixates on business registrations, I guess they mean along-the-ground optical fiber broadband since running businesses on mobile data is just impractical.

    Corruption seeps into every crevice of economic life in the Global South. A Mexican of my acquaintance took a job with the water com­pany of a certain city, in which he was supposed to turn off service to users in default. No one’s service was suspended, however. Rather, the employee took a bribe, kept 30 percent, and passed the rest up the management chain. Small-scale corruption is just as corrosive as large-scale corruption, and digital payments help to eliminate both.

    I don’t understand this scenario. Users are subverting the water bill and saving money by bribing instead?

    Figure 6. Chinese export growth vs. Freedom House Rankings

    Jesus Christ man

    Overall the article is great for the objective data it included and talking about how internet accessibility precedes GDP growth.

    • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆OP
      51·
      1 year ago

      It’s really important for western publications to frame this as capitalism because the alternative would be the admission that there is an alternative to capitalism that’s rapidly outcompeting capitalism in the developing world. Like you said though, the most interesting part of the article isn’t the predictable framing, but the admissions of the huge success of Chinese model of development.