With the rapid development of the economy, more and more people can afford basic commodities. However, some people still suffer from hunger and cold in developing countries. Therefore, expenditure policies of governments should be classified into two types. For developing countries, governments should spend most of their money on people’s basic needs; for those highly developed countries, putting plenty of government encouragement by policies for computer technology is reasonable.

In developing countries, governments should pay more attentions to basic needs. As we all know, nothing is more significant than raising living standards for a country. Thus, providing good and more basic commodities is the first mission for governments. For examples, the Chinese governments are doing good jobs in this area. According to recent government statistics in China, “A total of 15.6 billion yuan for the minimum living allowance was allocated from government budgets at central and local levels in 2003, which included the 9.2 billion yuan of the Central Government’s subsidies to the disadvantaged central and western regions.” In addition, China can offer basic food or necessities by itself at high percentage. In other words, China does not need to import basic goods from other countries such as rice, sugar, salt, and clothes. That is one of the most important reasons why the economy of china can develop dramatically.

In contrast, if the countries are classified to developed countries, it is all right that governments spend many resources to explore a big market or develop computer technology. Possibly, the computer is more regarded as a kind of necessities than luxury goods for them. As the computer become important in our life, the bloom of Internet is a major reason for that. Like below bar chart, the percentage of adults using Internet in different developed countries is relatively high.

Thus, computers tend to become basic tools for the people who are living in developed country.

To sum up, whether the government is supposed to spend money on basic needs or on the encouragement of computer technology is based on the economic situations they are in. Governments should consider not only how to make their country strong, but also how to improve the life of their people.

April 2005