ICT for sustainable development: Global comparative evidence of globalisation thresholds

The objectives of this paper are to investigate the effect of ICT on sustainable development and the mechanisms through which the effect is modulated. The focus is on a sample of 140 countries around the globe for the period 2000–2019. The methodology involves the: (i) Fixed Effects estimator to control for individual heterogeneity, (ii) Driscoll and Kraay estimator to control for cross-section dependence between panels, (iii) the Mean Group estimator to take into account the averages between panel groups, (iv) the system GMM to correct for unobserved heterogeneity and simultaneity bias and (v) the instrumental variable Fixed Effects Tobit to take in to account the limited range in our dependent variable. The results show that ICT has a positive and significant effect on sustainable development. Whereas overall net effects are positive, the findings are contingent on the choice of the ICT measurement, the geographical location of the economy and the income group category. The study recommends policy makers to take into account ICT and the advantages it offers in the elaboration of measures for the sustainable development agenda.     

Business partnering—a driving force for innovation

Win-Win situations are used and also created by companies which cooperate with each other, complement each other on a synergy basis and work together fairly and competently. Today, business partnering has therefore become a key qualification for companies. This should not depend alone on the commitment of individual persons.This article describes how Siemens has organized its company, services and products using partnering solutions and how it has installed this concept as an intrinsically dynamic process. Thanks to institutionalized partnering, B2B interfaces have been established to form a rational alliance, offering benefits to all involved, and can be used regardless of the size of the company. These offerings generate Win-Win situations themselves—and provide individual employees in large companies with a structural framework for a personal partnering initiative.     

The EU State aid policy for broadband: An evaluation of the Italian experience with first generation networks

State aid (SA) measures for broadband have been flourishing in the EU, but our knowledge about the effectiveness and efficiency of this policy remains extremely scarce. We investigate the SA experience with the first generation of broadband services (FGB) in Italy, whose market was long plagued by extensive market failures, largely due to market power. By exploiting original open Government data and sources, we analyse the main domains of the EU SA policy, and assess whether its ex ante goals have been met in Italy. Four main results stand out. First, the plan extended the FGB coverage of rural areas, although with a substantial delay and incompletely, with respect to the ambitious targets of the Digital Agenda for Europe. Second, public consultations have significantly increased the transparency of the market and of the SA intervention, promoting investment and a gradual increase in the efficiency of public procurement. Third, the direct effects of SA on competitive entry appear less pronounced, at least in the static sense. Fourth, the final matching between allocative and dynamic efficiency of SA policy, and its coherence with industrial and innovation policies remain critical, based on the Italian experience: in fact, the persisting digital divide affecting the business-rich areas depicts another relevant instance of partial Government failure.     

Are China’s regional agricultural productivities converging: How and why?

This article tests the hypotheses of convergence to a single level of total factor productivity (TFP), and a steady state of TFP growth rate in China’s agricultural sector. Based on multilateral TFP estimates we found that China’s agricultural sector has rebounded in recent years from a slower TFP growth in the 2005–2007 period. While convergence test results confirm a “catch-up” effect that provinces with lower TFP levels tend to grow faster than others, estimated rates of β convergence are conditional on how we capture the heterogeneity effect across regions. The rates of β convergence range from 0.016 to 0.039 under different model specifications. Estimates show that higher growth rates of educational attainment, R&D, and intermediate goods density (per unit of labor) can enhance TFP growth. Unfortunately, there is no evidence of an overall σ convergence, indicating that TFP levels are not converging except in the South region. It implies that to catch up with leading provinces, it would require extra efforts for those lagging behind by increasing their region-specific research investment, promoting rural educational attainment, and enhancing embodied technical change.