How as the different types of commuication impact on development?

Question

How as the different types of commuication impact on development?

Answer 1

Very interesting question.

Clearly, communication is critical along several dimensions:

1. Without communication, any innovation would have to be invented over and over again. This would clearly slow development.

On the one hand, scientists have tried to communicate as effectively as they can throughout history; but there have also been deliberate barriers to such communication put in place by governments (think secrecy laws, burning of libraries by conquerors, etc.), businesses (trade secrets, etc.), and other institutions (suppression of knowledge by the Catholic Church, etc.)

2. Trade is greatly simplified and facilitated by better communication - both faster and more reliable. The family networks established by various trading families throughout history (the Jews in the time of the Roman empire, the Italian banking families in the renaissance, etc.) were critical to the development of trade in their day.

3. Market require communication to be effective. It is no accident that the great markets developed in big cities (where communicating with many people was easier) or that one of the early applications of the telegraph was to stock market tickers.

http://www.stocktickercompany.com/stc/hi...

It is modern communication that makes for a truly global capital market.

And for a typical example of communication aiding development:

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/con...

In general, because of its importance, the business world has always invested heavily in communications. For example, carrier pigeons had been used for thousands of years before being supplanted by faster methods:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homing_Pige...

If you are looking at a different aspect of communication, consider:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advertising

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viral_marke...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_of_mou...

as well as

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent