May, 2023
The world has moved into the digital age, but governments are still confused on what role they must play. Most have settled being regulators and passing different laws (e.g. GDPR). But if a government’s role in the past was to build hard critical infrastructure like highways, why shouldn’t that be extended to the digital age, wherein their role now evolves into one requiring building of “digital” infrastructure such as payment and commerce rails, digital identity and data exchange.
By creating competing public alternatives to certain private solutions that have existed in these areas, governments can reduce the cost for many of these essential digital services, resulting in a wild increase in their adoption, ultimately increasing economic surplus and GDP.
I’m in no way advocating for state controlled companies, but more so for state created digital utilities upon which private enterprises are free to compete. The result I’m seeking is the distribution of economic benefits of technology to one and all.