What the World Bank report on tech-related income inequality is missing

If technology is increasing inequality, it is how it changes power, not how it affects marginal productivity, that matters

Is the World Bank - the institution that once championed the Washington Consensus - really breaking with the tech optimism of so many of the world's companies and economic leaders? Not exactly.

The report released on 14 January is an internally conflicted document - at times recognizing the severe limits on competition in networked industries and calling for regulation and open access requirements in telecommunications, at times calling for bank deregulation or cheerleading for Uber as a way of giving opportunities for occasional drivers to supplement their livelihood, with little recognition of the disruptions this contingent work model imposes on full-time drivers.