Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and the Changing African Economy: Toward a Mixed Economy
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The traditional dualism of the economy??”the coexistence of a formal and an informal sector??”is a principal feature of most African countries. Almost everywhere, on the fringe of a formally recognized activity, another one always exists in a semi- or totally clandestine way. This feature had for a long time spared the global sector of telecommunications and information and communication technology (ICT). A sector of extreme specialization, ICT in principle was not suited to the informal sector. However ICT’s omnipresence in different contemporary activities seems to have changed that view, if not altered the model of African economic activities. The analysis and the fieldwork on which this study is based show the complexity of the problem in the facts. It can be seen that ICTs, in introducing formality into activities, inadvertently create informal activities. This contradiction is a sign of movement toward a mixed economic system.
Réseaux sociaux