Priceless
Trade in data seems very important, but there are no good, er, data on it
ALTHOUGH trade in goods and services is sluggish, international flows of data are exploding. According to the McKinsey Global Institute, a think-tank within a consultancy, data zipped across borders at a rate of 211 terabits per second in 2014. That is equivalent to 1.3 Libraries of Congress per second, and 45 times more than in 2005. McKinsey reckons that this torrent contributed more to global growth in 2014 than trade in goods.
This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “Priceless”
From the June 18th 2016 edition
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