Conclusion: Technology, Institutions and Political Judgment

Abstract

In the early 1990s, the economist Robert Solow once famously remarked that one could see the effects of the computer revolution everywhere, save in the productivity statistics. At long last, it does now seem to be showing up there too. However, to adapt his phrase to the present context, by the mid-1990s, one might have said that we have seen the computer revolution everywhere in governance, except in the quality of political judgment. As Chapter 3 showed, this is no longer entirely fair. The effects have been, as Chapter 4 explained, a long time in coming, but finally there are signs of innovation. A number of pressures are building for their greater use in policy making.