Information technology, cumulative causation and patterns of globalization in the third world

While recognizing the importance of a wide range of inuences on current patterns of globalization in developing countries, this paper focuses on the role played by information technologies of various kinds. It is argued that these technologies are associated with a number of powerful cumulative mechanisms causing some countries to grow rapidly and others to become increasingly marginalized from the global economy. These differential effects of information technology on patterns of globalization are better viewed from the perspective of Myrdal’s notion of cumulative causation than from the standpoint of standard economic theory