Letter: Cheap laptops no solution

The UN and the aid industry have bought into the idea of the Digital Divide and now want to buy millions of basic laptops for children at US$100 each ("Local manufacturers in talks on cheap laptop project," Dec. 1, page 1). This means that cheap computers are more important than, for example, a whole cow or three flocks of six chickens or two water pumps, which many charities supply for a similar price.

How will laptops clean up dirty water, provide smokeless cooking fuel, remove barriers to economic and political freedom or stop corruption? These are the daily constraints that keep people poor and the poor will not make economic or digital progress until they are freed from those shackles.

The US$100 laptop is just one of the wonders that emerge when mankind's entrepreneurial spirit is unleashed. The reason Taiwanese companies are in the running to build it is because they grew in a free market.

Instead trying to manage development from above, the development industry should advocate the economic freedoms and the protections in law that allow the poor to improve their own lot. They might even end up being able to afford computers.

Alec van Gelder
London