Robin Lewis

Come Jan 20, President-elect Donald Trump will have the opportunity to continue or suspend many of the technology-focused initiatives begun by President Barack Obama. These programs included expanding broadband access, training workers for jobs in STEM fields, and building supercomputers, among others. Brookings experts Stuart N. Brotman, Robin Lewis, Nicol Turner-Lee, and Niam Yaraghi weigh in on what direction technology policy will take in the Trump administration, and how it might react to future technology change.

Expanding Broadband Access: The incoming administration has expressed its intent to lead its policy priorities with an aggressive infrastructure plan. Referring to the infrastructure goals as a “golden opportunity for accelerated economic growth,” the new leadership plans to rejuvenate the domestic economy by spurring more targeted private investments and creating and recovering jobs. Under what will seemingly be a pro-business, nonregulated market, the threat of broadband “overbuild” looms, bringing new meaning to the cliche “if you build it, will they come.” Whereas technology overbuilds have often led to increased competition in certain markets and lowered consumer prices, an oversaturated broadband market can also create network redundancies, faster depreciation of assets, and decreased consumer demand. Managing supply and demand of broadband services should be at the core of the new administration’s efforts. With unbridled supply, the marketplace will be ripe for competitive offerings and differentiated services, including free or unlimited data plans. Smart digital inclusion plans and programs with clear goals and outcomes should be prioritized to narrow the gap among those who haven’t adopted broadband into their daily lives. Increased investments in digital literacy training, especially within community anchor institutions (e.g., libraries and schools) can cultivate more interest and use. In sum, the new administration’s efforts to expand and maximize infrastructure must equally address the demand for these and other emerging services so that when it’s built, they will indeed come.

The 2016 Brookings Financial and Digital Inclusion Project (FDIP) evaluates access to and usage of affordable financial services by underserved people across 26 geographically, politically, and economically diverse countries. The 2016 report assesses these countries’ financial inclusion ecosystems based on four dimensions of financial inclusion: country commitment, mobile capacity, regulatory environment, and adoption of selected traditional and digital financial services.

We identify four priority areas where action is needed to advance inclusive finance: 1) an increased focus on establishing (and then achieving) specific, measurable financial inclusion targets; 2) promoting more comprehensive data collection and analysis regarding financial access and usage, particularly among traditionally underserved groups such as women; 3) advancing regulatory efforts designed to facilitate financial inclusion; and 4) enhancing financial capability to promote sustainable financial inclusion. Taken together, progress on these action items would amplify opportunities for underserved populations to participate in the digital economy and leverage formal financial services to
improve their well-being.