Turkey : Informatics and Economic Modernization Book

Informatics is a technology set for information processing, storage, retrieval and transmission. Over the past 25 years, sustained technological change in the informatics sector has had an economy-wide impact on productivity growth, raising the information-intensity of private sector and government activities. In advanced economies, informatics now accounts for 5-6% of GNP, and by 1995 will be the single largest industrial sector. Policies that foster the supply, diffusion and efficient application of informatics have therefore become central to long run growth potential and to international competitiveness. However, not all consequences of informatics are guaranteed to be welfare-enhancing. Rather, informatics also poses new threats to civil liberties, creates significant costs of social and institutional adjustment, and is likely to have far-reaching implications for systems of governance. Hence, the interest of governments around the world in understanding the implications of informatics for social and economic progress, and in harnessing its benefits for national development. Cross-country indicators suggest that Turkey is behind in: the markets for computer hardware and especially software; modernizing the framework for the communications sector; creating the human resources essential for an information-based economy; and developing a vigorous private information industry. Longer term growth and international competitiveness will depend on measures that the government takes to correct these deficits, and to mobilize private sector resources for productive use and supply of informatics.