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利用数字技术弥合机会鸿沟

发自纽约—尽管许多社会都渴望为每个人提供平等机会，但这一点说起来容易做起来难。处于不同经济和社会地位的人分别拥有不平等的教育或财政起点，并通常会将他们导向差异极大的就业和生活机会。

数字技术并不是为解决不平等而发明的，甚至有可能会扩大现有的经济和社会差距。但正如中国的情况所示，这些新平台还提供了许多可以用来缩小机会差距的手段。

在这方面我可以举出四个例子。首先是小微企业的电子商务推广。淘宝网隶属于阿里巴巴集团，也是新兴经济体中最大的在线交易市场。它使茶农，家具制造商，手提箱制造商以及其他小型（包括来自偏远农村的）生产者和商户可以轻松且成本低廉地触及上海和北京（甚至海外）的客户。以往由于存在高昂的中间费用，这些企业家无法直接出售足够大量的产品。但是在电子商务时代他们可以如愿以偿。

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