Total factor productivity enablers in the ICT industry: A cross-country firm-level analysis

Advancements in productivity in the digital economy constitute an important engine for economic growth. What drives productivity dynamics in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector? This study examines the productivity dynamics of ICT firms across countries from the perspective of corporate balance sheets. We study the effects of intangible assets and leverage on productivity growth using firm-level panel data from five industrialized countries. We find that intangible assets positively affect the total factor productivity in the ICT sector. The positive effect of intangible assets on total factor productivity growth is larger for ICT manufacturing firms than for ICT service firms. We also find that leverage has a positive relationship with total factor productivity development in the ICT sector. In addition, our empirical results substantiated that productivity is catching up to the technological frontier. Furthermore, larger firms and/or younger firms generally show higher total factor productivity growth than their peers. Economies of scale are more prominent in the ICT service sector than in the ICT manufacturing sector. Our findings contribute to the understanding of cross-country productivity dynamics in the ICT sector at the firm level in the digital economy.     

Being a woman in an ICT job: an analysis of the gender pay gap and discrimination in Spain

Despite policy initiatives aimed at promoting female access to jobs, the information and communication technology (ICT) professions have traditionally been largely monopolised by men. Segregation, gendered stereotypes and environmental factors have a clear impact on educational and professional choices, as well as on working conditions. The spread of ICT to all economic activities has meant that ICT specialists are now to be found everywhere, not only in the ICT sector where many stereotypes related to technical jobs persist. This work aims to analyse the gender wage gap and discrimination in ICT professions, with the emphasis on how working in an ICT-intensive industry might affect that situation. The study uses the Spanish Earning Structure Survey data for 2014, and applies wage decomposition techniques to the wage distribution. The results show that female ICT professionals face unfavorable working conditions, especially in highly qualified jobs and in ICT-intensive industries.     

Do R&D and ICT affect total factor productivity growth differently?

We analyze the effect of ICT and R&D on total factor productivity (TFP) growth across different industries in Sweden. R&D alone is significantly associated with contemporaneous TFP growth, thus exhibiting indirect effects. Although there is no significant short-run association between ICT and TFP, we find a positive association with a lag of seven to eight years. Thus, R&D affect TFP much faster than ICT-investments. We also divide ICT capital into hardware and software capital. To our knowledge, this distinction has not been made in any previous study analyzing TFP at the industry level. The results show that lagged hardware capital services growth is significantly associated with TFP growth. Hence, investments complementary to hardware are needed to reap the long-run TFP effects from reorganizing production.     

Convergence and determinants of ICT development in case of emerging market economies

This paper aims to examine the convergence of ICT development in the case of 27 emerging market economies (EMEs) using annual data from 2000 to 2018. First, by employing Phillips-Sul (PS) panel convergence test, the results not only support the evidence of convergence in ICT development but also find convergence in the composition of ICT development known as ICT access and ICT use. Second, the study identifies factors such as per capita income, human capital, and FDI which significantly affect ICT development. Third, results based on stochastic conditional convergence reveal that EMEs countries are not only converging among themselves but also ‘catch-up’ to the OECD countries.     

The globalization and stagnation of the ICT sectors in European countries: An input-output analysis

Recent studies of European countries indicate that the contribution of the ICT sectors to the regional economy is weakening and slowing economic growth. The present study investigates the contribution of the ICT sectors to economic performance in the European economies using Input–Output (IO) methodology. The results indicate that: (1) the multiplier effect of the ICT sectors on the rest of the economy declined significantly during the period 2000–2005 compared with 1995–2000; and (2) the decline in the output of the ICT sectors can be attributed to the loss of export advantages and technical change gains in the sectors. The results show an inability of the sectors to grasp the international market, most likely a consequence of the lack of anticipation of more rapid innovation in emerging countries.     

ICT capital and labour productivity growth: A non-parametric analysis of 14 OECD countries

This paper uses a new set of country data for 14 countries, members of the OECD, and a non-parametric approach to provide new evidence on the impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on labour productivity growth between 1995 and 2005. For the first time, in the present paper a bootstrap approach for the decomposition of labour productivity change, proposed by Kumar and Russell (2002), is employed. This approach permits to conduct statistical inference on the parameters of interest, and to analyse the effects of ICT technologies on capital accumulation. The results confirm the role of ICT as a general purpose technology that needs organisational and business process changes to fully exploit its growth opportunities. The paper also finds out, by applying a non-parametric test, that ICT technologies positively contribute to the generation of convergence clubs in the evolution of labour productivity. Finally, the empirical evidence offers some basic guidance for future policy intervention in supporting ICT capital investments.     

Small is big in ICT: The impact of R&D on productivity

We examine the contribution of R&D to firm productivity in a large panel of European firms and study its variation with the age, size, and sub-sector of firms. We find that R&D capital in ICT firms has a larger effect on revenue when compared to non-ICT firms. At the firm level, our results suggest that, surprisingly, smaller and older ICT firms benefit the most from R&D. Small but mature ICT firms are likely to dominate market niches, and small size may enable them to be flexible and adaptable which helps them respond to technological opportunities to develop innovative products and services. This has important implications for public policy based upon firm age.     

The impact of ICT patents on economic growth: An international evidence

This study aims to examine the impact of inventions, measured by the number of new patents, on economic growth. Specifically, we focus on patents in the ICT sector for a global sample of 43 economies, comprising 26 advanced and 17 emerging market economies in the period 1998 to 2016. We use a two-step system GMM to control for potential endogeneity in the data. Our results are threefold. First, total patents have mutually causal effects with economic growth, but there is no evidence of an impact of total patents on manufacturing sector growth. At the same time, ICT patents have a unidirectional causal impact on both, overall economic growth, and the growth of services and manufacturing. Second, the impact of total patents on economic growth is stronger in advanced economies. At the same time, ICT patents have a positive significant impact on the growth of advanced economies and a negative significant effect on the growth of emerging economies. Third, in the long-run, ICT patents have a positive significant impact on economic growth, while total patents do not.     

ICT investment and GDP growth: Causality analysis for the case of Korea

This study investigated how investment in the industry of Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) has been interlocked with the GDP growth of South Korea. Based on seasonally-adjusted quarterly time-series data for the period between 1999 and 2016 available from the Korea Statistical Information Service, a Vector Error Correction model was applied for the analysis. The results revealed that ICT investment and GDP growth affected bi-directionally except for the short-run case in which only ICT investment affected GDP growth. The results explain that ICT investment plays an important role in the economic growth of South Korea in the long term; at the same time, investment size in the ICT industry increases as the economy grows. Without controlling any other factors, we found GDP increases by 0.4% when ICT investment increases by 1%. However, in the short term, only ICT leads to GDP growth. Therefore, the recent stagnation in ICT investment experienced in South Korea could negatively affect the economic growth of Korea in the short run, and hence, in the long-run, if it should become prolonged. The ICT investment strategy revealed from this study is especially useful to policy-makers who plan the economic growth in South Korea and other ICT-advanced countries because promoting ICT utilization across all sectors requires putting legal and policy mechanisms in place.     

Inclusive growth in Sub-Saharan Africa: Exploring the interaction between ICT diffusion,and financial development

Despite the momentous rise in ICT diffusion, and financial development in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), their plausible joint effect on inclusive growth have not been explored, leaving a lacuna in the literature. This study, therefore, examines the direct and indirect effects of ICT diffusion on inclusive growth in 42 SSA countries over the period 1980–2019. We provide evidence robust to several specifications from the dynamic system GMM to show that: (i) ICT skills, access and usage induce inclusive growth in SSA, and (ii) the effects of ICT skills, access and usage are enhanced in the presence of financial development. These findings remain the same when we focussed on financial institution access. Policy recommendations are provided in line with the region's green growth agenda and striving efforts at improving socioeconomic development.     

The non-linear relationship between ICT diffusion and financial development

This research investigates the linear and non-linear effects of information and communication technology (ICT) diffusion on financial development for 81 countries over the period 1990–2015 by employing the generalized-momentum method (GMM) and panel smooth transition regression (PSTR). Some main conclusions are presented as follows. First, comparing the different effects of ICT on financial development between the high-income group and the middle- & low-income group, telephone and Internet positively influences both groups’ financial development, whereas mobile cellular causes a negative effect in high-income countries, but a positive effect in middle- & low-income countries. Second, the growth of the Internet and telephones raises the financial development in all regions, while mobile cellular growth positively affects financial development only in Africa. Finally, strong evidence appears that the PSTR models capture the smooth non-linear effects of ICT diffusion on financial development, in which the effect of ICT diffusion on financial development is positive in the lower level of ICT diffusion, but turns negative in the higher level of ICT diffusion.     

ICT as a source of output and productivity growth in Finland

This paper analyses the impacts of information and communications technology on output and labour productivity growth in Finland in 1995–2005. Information and communications technology (ICT) accounted for 1.87 percentage points of the observed labour productivity growth at the average rate of 2.87 per cent. The contribution from increases in ICT capital intensity was 0.46 percentage points. The rest is attributed to multi-factor productivity growth in ICT production, especially in telecommunications production. The ongoing outsourcing of ICT production to low-wage countries provides a threat to productivity performance in the future. Policy makers should consider where the next wave of productivity growth will come from.     

Harnessing digital technologies for poverty reduction. Evidence for low-income and lower-middle income countries

This paper contributes to understanding the relationship between ICT deployment and poverty alleviation in developing countries. It assess the digital technologies contribution to poverty reduction, through different channels of impact, like education, labor market, income and ICT-trade related activities.Using the sample of 40 developing countries between 1990 and 2019, it relies on macro data extracted from the World Bank Development Indicators (2021) and the World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database (2020). Methodological framework combines time trend analysis and locally weighted polynomial smoother, logistic growth model, and panel regression modelling techniques. Our major findings suggest growing ICT deployment, school enrolments, and increases in material wealth are significant drivers of poverty eradication in developing economies. However, the impact of digitalization on poverty is neither direct nor immediate. Therefore, we claim that national and local authorities, together with civil society must consider ICT as a key element of their broad development strategies.     

The impact of ICT convergence on development in the Asian region

Emerging economies in the Asia–Pacific region are experiencing dramatic and accelerating changes in patterns of ownership and investment in their telecommunications sectors, as well as in convergence. This paper will highlight the significant dependence of emerging economies of the region on convergence of ICT and how these technologies create new networks. Evidence will be cited from China, the Asian Dragons and the near NIEs like Malaysia and Indonesia, to show how they have created one of the largest markets in the world for telecoms equipment and services. The Southeast Asian countries with their open economies and export oriented investment technologies have proved that such policies have generated trade surpluses and long-term growth despite their current financial crises. They still plan to continue ascribing priority in their investment patterns to converging ICT.     

The long-run impact of Information and Communication Technology on economic output: The case of Australia

This paper investigates the cointegration and causal relationships between Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and economic output in Australia using data for about five decades. The framework used in this paper is the single-sector aggregate production function, which is the first comprehensive approach of this kind to include ICT and non-ICT capital and other factors to examine long-run Granger causality. The empirical evidence points to a cointegration relationship between ICT capital and output, and implies that ICT capital Granger causes economic output and multifactor productivity, as does non-ICT capital.     

Does ICT investment widen the growth gap?

This paper builds a model of cumulative growth to examine the dynamic interdependent relationship between Information and Communication Technology (ICT) investment and economic growth for a sample of 29 countries in the 1990s. We confirm the following facts: First, there is a positive correlation between ICT investment and economic growth. Second, non-ICT investment has as much influence on the growth gap as ICT investment. Third, those countries with a solid economic infrastructure and open trade regime experience more active ICT investments. Fourth, those countries with a comparatively lower productivity level can reduce the gap using knowledge spillovers from more advanced countries. Fifth, reinforcement of patent rights has a positive influence on economic growth by stimulating the accumulation of ICT capital. Finally, ICT investment does not have a strong interdependent relationship with economic growth, while non-ICT investment has a cumulative causal relationship with economic growth and plays a key role in the process of widening the growth gap.     

ICT investment-specific technological change and productivity growth in Korea: Comparison of 1996–2005 and 2006–2015

This paper analyses the impact of information and communications technology (ICT) on the productivity growth in Korea with the dynamic general equilibrium (DGE) model including investment-specific technological change. According to the balanced growth path analysis, ICT investment-specific technological change accounts for 18.8% to labor productivity growth in 1995–2005, then 14.3% in 2006–2015, and the decline in the rate of ICT investment-specific technological change has contributed to the slow productivity growth since the mid-2000s. In cyclical fluctuations, ICT investment-specific technological shocks were significant in output variance in 1996–2005, but neutral technological shocks and non-ICT investment specific shocks became dominant in 2006–2015. In sum, it can be concluded that the impacts of ICT investment-specific technology have diminished in the growth path and cyclical fluctuations. The result that increased (decreased) ICT investment intensity with faster (slower) ICT investment-specific technological change lead to higher (lower) productivity growth indicates that Korea has been a case against the productivity paradox, and sustained technological progress in ICT and expansion of ICT usage could have boosted the productivity growth. Therefore, this study implies that facilitating ICT progress and ICT usage outside of the already well-performing ICT manufacturing can help Korean economy raise the productivity growth rate.     

Identification of intangible assets in knowledge‐based organizations using concept mapping techniques

This paper proposes a procedure for identifying the intangible assets that generate value to knowledge‐intensive organizations using concept mapping techniques. Concept mapping is a form of structured conceptualization that incorporates and processes the opinion of a set of experts. A double statistical treatment consisting of a multidimensional scaling analysis and a cluster analysis is applied to a set of data provided by experts to obtain the results, which are presented in the form of maps. As a case study, the social and legal departments in a Spanish university were analyzed. As a result, 60 items referring to different intangible assets of these departments were identified and grouped into 10 clusters, and they were in turn grouped in regions corresponding to the three basic components of intellectual capital: human capital, structural capital and relational capital. The evaluation of the relative importance of each of them leads to the preeminent position of the structural capital.     

异质性人力资本对经济增长作用区域差异研究

本文用受教育水平的差异来表示异质性人力资本，采用永续盘存法计算固定资产存量，得到2004～2013年中国省级区域的相关数据。分析不同区域异质性人力资本对经济增长的作用。对不同省级区域的时间序列数据进行逐步回归。结果说明物质资本投资依然是经济增长的主要动力，不同区域的异质性人力资本对促进经济增长的作用不同。促进低水平人力资本向高水平人力资本转变有利于中国经济持续增长。     

双重价值链嵌入下的中国省级区域角色——一个综合理论分析框架

本文从理论上厘清国内价值链与全球价值链的内涵及边界,进而拓展区域间投入产出模型,建立双重价值链嵌入下的综合理论分析框架,在对中国区域间投入产出表及世界投入产出表匹配基础上,就中国省级区域双重价值链嵌入行为进行实证分析。结果表明:①相对于国内价值链,中国大部分省级区域嵌入全球价值链的程度更深,且2007年以来呈现出明显的价值链攀升势头;②沿海地区在双重价值链中更多扮演“加工制造者”角色,内陆地区则是更多扮演“原材料、初级产品供给者”角色;③“入世”以来,中国制造部门全球价值链位置呈现“先抑后扬”的发展态势,国内价值链分工和资源整合是推动中国制造部门全球价值链升级的重要因素;④市场整合效应、技术进步效应、企业成长效应是国内专业化分工推动全球价值链升级的重要途径。加快中国产业部门全球价值链升级,应更加重视国内资源整合,协调区域专业化分工;更加重视高级要素培育,推动要素禀赋结构升级;更加重视本土关联,提升国内配套能力。