Can big data revolutionise development economics? A literature review on Latin America

Abstract

The field of development has been held back by a general lack of data. The recent emergence of big data analytics has caught the attention of researchers and policymakers, striving to design better development programmes based on the ever-increasing amount of data. In this paper, we analyse the potential of big data to help address development challenges in Latin America. We review the current literature and existing development programmes to show how big data has been used to find innovative solutions in sectors such as healthcare, agriculture, and education. Big data has a huge potential in improving statistics and our understanding of the problems faced by Latin American countries. If shared and compiled appropriately, big data can inform policies and improve the way development programmes are constructed. However, several concerns have been raised regarding misrepresentation of populations and unreliability of data, and the potential of big data hinges on it being used responsibly.

Keywords

• development
• Latin America
• new information technologies
• big data
• development programmes