We now know that it is at least as important for survival to create or recognize alternatives as it is to choose among them. Prescriptive models of decision-making do not prescribe how to create or recognize alternatives. Humans do it anyway. We do it by extracting knowledge, insight, and understanding from information in new and unpredictable ways. Therein lies a lesson for measuring the impact of information on development.
Information has potential value as well as current value.
But we cannot assess the potential of information by measuring information. We can only assess the potential by measuring the creativity of the people who use it. Psychologists, like most other sentient beings, know that people seek and use information for many more reasons than improving their policies and decisions. We seek information for excitement and pleasure and the satisfaction of our curiosity. We use information to coordinate and justify our behaviours, to gain status and power, and to adapt to changes in our circumstances.