OLPC ($100 "laptop") FAQ

[Randy Edwards]

 > >    Or would the country's money be better spent buying the cheapest
 > > books possible (which could be produced in-country) and the difference
 > > invested in an electrical infrastructure?
 > Since the difference would be zero dollars (it would actually cost MORE
 > to provide the same texts in hardcopy) it would not help with building
 > electrical infrastructure at all.

   This fundamentally is an area of economics.  We've seen that all vibrant 
economies since WWII have used exports to generate wealth.  Japan, Germany, 
the Asian tigers, Chile, China, etc. have all used exports to grow while 
developing their domestic markets and keeping their foreign trade balanced 
or, typically, in large surpluses.

   A Cambodian publishing industry isn't a cost per se -- it's the development 
of a domestic industry; it means domestic jobs for Cambodians in Cambodia.  
Resigning yourself to importing a critical component of your educational 
system (the laptops) from overseas will add to the country's trade deficit 
and will make the country poorer.  It simply has to be so unless there are 
other offsetting exports.

   There is a theme in the OLPC writings that the new, educated students "get 
the education for real jobs that take them out of poverty completely." 
<http://wiki.laptop.org/index.php/OLPC_myths>  A wonderful thought, but where 
do those "real jobs" come from?  There is no direct connection other than a 
theory.  In reality, those "real jobs" are in Taiwan or China where the 
laptops are being made.

   Don't get me wrong, I think the laptops are just what are needed in 
education (in more developed countries) and it's clear that a lot of 
ingenious thought have gone into them.

   And there is a correlation between education and wealth/jobs.  But a 
correlation is not a cause and effect link and meanwhile you're asking poor 
countries to send their money to Taiwan.  Based on how other countries have 
successfully developed their own economies and generated nat'l wealth, I'd be 
very, very leery of that approach.

 Regards,
 .
 Randy

-- 
"You know, when I was growing up, or other Baby Boomers here were growing up, 
we felt safe because we had these vast oceans that could protect us from 
harm's way." -- George Bush, Jan. 11, 2006. Was Bush lying again or simply 
displaying that in his youth he had never heard of nuclear missiles or 
airplanes that drop bombs? 
<http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/01/20060111-7.html>