Relationship of Information and Infrastructures and Social Development Among the Visegrad-Four Countries of Central Europe at the Time of EU Accession

Abstract

The following is an examination of the developmental status of four of the next candidate countries’ information infrastructures for accession into the European Union (EU). It develops significant relationships between nations’ levels of information infrastructure development and their economic and social developments and applies these relationships to evaluate investment needs for a select group of accession countries called the Visegrad Four. Using cross-country analysis, the candidate countries were compared to other countries and were classified into like groups using cluster analysis while their relative developments were evaluated using regression modeling. Developmental requirements and capital needs to promote growth in their information and communications industries were then identified. It is hoped that the chapter will offer a comparative glimpse of the information and communications infrastructures of some Central and East European countries as compared to other nations.