Economic Development: Government's Cutting Edge in IT

Abstract

This chapter explores the interface between information technology (IT) and economic development. The impacts of three IT innovations are assessed in terms of how they contributed to the development of economic development practice: database management systems (DBMS), geographic information systems (GIS), and the evolution of Web sites. With regard to the close relationship between IT and economic development, the chapter primarily focuses on current and future issues in this area. The chapter is organized into the following sections: it begins with an introductory section, a second section delves into the history of economic development and its relationship with IT; a third section introduces the three IT revolutions in economic development; the fourth, fifth and sixth sections each address a key development in economic development/IT relationship: DBMS, GIS, and Web site development, respectively. Section seven provides examples of IT in practice with descriptions of three excellent economic development Web sites. The chapter concludes by providing a glimpse of what might be expected in the future and some recommendations for future research on this topic.