Repeat the same mistaken data enough times and people start believing it. If you’re active in policy or a reporter and think any of these are accurate, please email me for primary sources. I’m writing this quick note because two respected groups just sent to me stuff I know is wrong.
There is a large, measurable cost to Internet shutdowns. If you can send your birthday gift a few days later or catch up two days of missed lessons, the Brookings report falls apart.
Connecting more people to the Internet has large economic benefits. Senior economists, including one now at Harvard, debunked this in 2009 in D.C.
The Internet has no economic downsides. Tell that to the store owner who went broke because he couldn’t compete with giant Amazon. About a third of the world’s newspaper reporters lost their jobs. Almost all claims about “economic benefits” leave out the negative.