By: FirstIndia
New Delhi: India has successfully harnessed the power of digital technology for the benefit of its people, while the United States has missed the opportunity, highlighted Nobel Laureate in Economics and former World Bank Chief Economist, Prof. Paul Romer on Monday.
Speaking at the NDTV World Summit 2024, Romer highlighted the stark contrast between the two countries in how they have utilized technology to improve the lives of their citizens.
Romer emphasized that the United States has “squandered a phenomenal opportunity” in the digital technology space, failing to translate technological advancements into tangible benefits for its people.
He said “The opportunities that we were given in the United States with digital technology, we have wasted, squandered a really phenomenal opportunity. And the way to see what we’ve lost is to compare the success in India”.
He pointed out a troubling trend in the U.S., where life expectancy, a traditional measure of progress, has not only stagnated but started to decline. Despite the technological revolution in the country, he noted, people in the U.S. are not living as long as they once did, signaling that technology has not been used effectively to enhance the quality of life.
“I talk to the Silicon Valley types and say, you know, life expectancy has stopped increasing in the United States. It’s actually falling. And then they say, oh, well, no, we don’t want to use that measure anymore for progress…. And I’m saying, no, if that’s the measure that we picked in the beginning, you’ve got to stick with it. And by that measure, something’s really gone wrong in the United States. People are not living as long as they did before” Prof added.
In contrast, Romer praised India for its innovative use of digital technology, particularly through the Aadhaar system.
He highlighted how Aadhaar has transformed the lives of hundreds of millions of Indians who previously lacked any formal identification. Before Aadhaar, many people in India had no documents such as birth certificates or driver’s licenses and did not exist in the eyes of the modern state. Aadhaar gave them an official identity, enabling access to numerous services.
Prof said “Then you see what Aadhar has done by not just making it easy for people in this room to make digital payments, but taking hundreds of millions of people who have no existence in the formal state”.
Romer further emphasized how India has built on the success of Aadhaar with initiatives like direct benefit transfer schemes and access to financial accounts, ensuring that the benefits of technology reach everyone, especially the underserved. This, he said, is an example of a country leveraging technological opportunities for inclusive growth.
Prof Romer also assured that India’s life expectancy has not started falling, underscoring that the country’s approach to using digital technology has helped improve the overall quality of life for its citizens. He contrasted this with the U.S., where the lack of such a strategic focus has led to missed opportunities.
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