The role of European governments in the digital economy

• Main Author: DE MEYER, Arnoud Cyriel Leo
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2006
• Subjects: E-Commerce; Operations and Supply Chain Management; Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration; Technology and Innovation
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/5443; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/lkcsb_research/article/6442/viewcontent/RoleEuropeanGovtDigitalEconomy_2006.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

What is the role of government in the digital economy? It is not our intention to go into an in-depth ideological debate on whether governments should intervene in the business sector. We will try to adopt a pragmatic approach and explore what already happens in practice. It is up to the reader to make a judgment to what extent the governments should be involved in the ICT sector. There is enough indication that, due to network externality effects, governments need to take on an active role in stimulating an e-environment to jump-start the move toward a higher level of e-readiness.In this chapter, we will argue that the government can play an important role in at least four areas: stimulating the enhancement of the infrastructure that enables e-Europe; investing in improved services (e-government); stimulating an e-friendly business environment; and creating an all-inclusive information society. For each of these areas we will provide in-sights into how the government can play an effective role.