One of the principle benefits of free exchange is that it enables everyone to make efficient resource allocations. In practice, that means freeing people to spend more of their money they earn for themselves on things they think they actually need.
With such low levels of annual income, it might seem like the world's poorest have little to spend on things other than the bare essentials like food and water, but technology is becoming increasingly part of their lives thanks to the marginal liberalisation that have occurred in these countries in recent years. Mobile phone operators, for example, are lining up in hopes of serving what they see as enormous potential markets in Africa and other of the world's poorest regions. Huge investments in base station infrastructure mean that 50% of sub-Saharan population lives within reach of a mobile signal. With some respect for investments and enabling at least some form of market competition, providers offering their services at constantly decreasing costs are giving millions an opportunity to lift themselves out of poverty.
Wider access to these, and other important ICTs is, however, unnecessarily constrained by governments. This is morally reprehensible. Part of this reason is due to predatory taxes and tariffs on such things as mobile phones (import duties as high as 45% on handset, which can be produced for as little as $30). This helps create an environment that is anathema to the expansion of these technologies.
While stalling on headline issues like agriculture, it's imperative to note that development-friendly reductions (and eliminations) of tariffs should be reached now in many other areas as well.
To find out more about how governments obstruct development and access to ICTs, read this new report just released today.
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