Resumen
This article throws light on reduction in the cost of communication during the last 20 years as the transmission capacity of fiber has increased ten-fold every four years since the mid-1970s. Improved technology and the substitution of optical for electronic components, for example in optical amplification and optical frequency-division multiplexing, assure accelerating progress for many years. There has also been accelerating investment in communication infrastructure. Between 1994 and 1995, the world added over 45 million new telephone lines, a 7% growth rate. Growth rates are highest in poor nations, though the absolute numbers are much smaller. As infrastructure is expanding, transportation cost is rising. Increased competition and improved engineering have reduced some travel costs in recent years, but others have risen. In the long run, depletion of non-renewable fuels and political pressure to internalize environmental costs will result in higher cost of travel. Economic theory reveals that if the relative costs of two supplementary factors of production change, there will be a marginal shift from utilization of one to the other. The extent of the shift will be determined by the relative cost changes and marginal productivity of the factors.