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SIS 600

Access vs. Human Capital: the role of the internet in the pursuit of Building human capacity Sarra Talib American University School of International Service June 22, 2011. SIS 600 . Research Question and Hypothesis.

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SIS 600

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  1. Access vs. Human Capital: the role of the internet in the pursuit of Building human capacitySarra TalibAmerican UniversitySchool of International ServiceJune 22, 2011 SIS 600

  2. Research Question and Hypothesis • Does the availability/ease of access to the internet significantly influence the pursuit of capacity building in human resources in developing countries? I discovered that this is not very easy to measure… Nevertheless, my hypothesis was that: • There will be a positive correlation between internet access and human capital development

  3. Sociopolitical Context • The 1999 UNDP Human Development Report warned that access to ICT (information and communication technologies) could actually increase the gap between developed and developing countries, due to the lack of basic skills and knowledge to take advantage of these technologies • Hall (2002), states that “information poverty” is an extreme barrier to the development of a country’s human capital, and suggests that increased access to ICT, primarily through the internet, is a conduit for capacity building • Ngini, Furnell, and Ghita (2002), highlight other challenges to the development of human capital because of restricted access, such as in the Middle East where many countries prohibit independent links to the internet

  4. Relevant Data Data is from the World Bank’s World Development Indicators (WDI) Dependent Variable: • CPIA* Human Resources Rating (1-6) Independent Variables: • ICT Imports as % of total goods imports • Fixed Broadband Subscriptions per 100 users • Internet Users per 100 users • R&D Expenditure as a % of GDP • Secure Internet Servers per 1 million people • Telecom Investment • Personal Computers per 100 people *Country Policy and Institutional Assessment

  5. Descriptive Statistics Dependent Variable Independent Variables

  6. Descriptive Statistics, Cont. All Variables (Central Tendency Measure: Mean)

  7. Correlation Statistics

  8. Regression Analysis • 3 Models reported here (ran several different models but many came up insignificant) • Last model is best (using internet users per 100, ICT imports, and Fixed Broadband users per 100) – though there is a decrease in the number of observations, there is a significantly stronger adjusted r2 • Adjusted r2 shows that there is a relationship/correlation, though it is weak

  9. Graphs

  10. Conclusions and Recommendations • Though the findings are not very strong, they are significant, and we can reject the null hypothesis. Countries with greater access to the internet (and ICTs in general) have higher human resources ratings • More projects aiming to increase access and strengthen existing infrastructure in developing countries (ex. US Government’s Leland Initiative) • Specific, focused allocation of foreign aid dollars on ICTs in order to promote sustainable infrastructure that promotes the development of human capital

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