TECHNOLOGY CHANGE, EQUITY, AND GROWTH: A CASE STUDY OF RURAL ELECTRIFICATION IN JAVA (INDONESIA)

Although major development policies are predicated on explicit or implicit conceptions of the relationship between technological change and socio-economic institutions, the nature of those linkages is a matter of controversy. This study addresses the issue by analyzing the relationship between macro socio-economic structures and micro technology choices, and assessing the consequences for economic growth and equity in developing nations.;An alternative model is presented, and its implications for equitable, sustained development explored. The central proposition of the model is that the underlying structure of political and economic power shapes the distribution of access to resource-allocating institutions. The structure of access to resource-allocating institutions influences the impact of technological innovation in two ways: (1) By regulating the expression of "effective demand" for technological innovation, it determines the prevailing orientation of technological change; (2) by directing the allocation of complementary inputs required for exploitation of a new technology, it determines the distribution of actual opportunities to utilize the technology. Where the structure of access to resource-allocating institutions is highly stratified, the orientation of technological change tends to serve the interests of a narrow elite, to the detriment of development in the wider society. Furthermore, the introduction of even scale-neutral technologies into such societies tends to exacerbate inequality because the institutions controlling necessary complementary inputs are not scale-neutral. The study discusses the measures necessary to achieve equitable development from new-technology programs.;To test the model against empirical evidence, a case study examines the impact of rural electrification in Java. Analysis of survey data collected in eight villages substantiates the major tenets of the model. The results also provide a comprehensive assessment of direct and indirect economic impacts specifically attributable to rural electrification.;Examination of the development literature reveals the predominance of "technological determinism," the conept that technological innovation is the fundamental source of change. Principal perspectives within technological determinism are analyzed, including those advocating the dissemination of innovative "appropriate" technologies. Development programs based on the precepts of technological determinism are found, however, to be associated with various undesirable consequences, including rising inequality and political instability.