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on Economic Growth |
| By: | M.T. Musakwa (University of South Africa); N.M. Odhiambo (University of South Africa) |
| Abstract: | This study examined the causal relationship between ICT, income inequality and economic growth in South Africa using data from 1990 to 2021. Three measures of ICT were used in the study, namely fixed telephone lines subscription, mobile cellular subscriptions and the proportion of people using the internet to the total population. Employing the autoregressive distributed lag approach, the study found a unidirectional causal flow from income inequality to ICT across all measures of ICT employed. Another unidirectional causal flow from economic growth to ICT was found in the short run when ICT was measured by fixed telephone lines and mobile cellular. When internet access was used as a measure of ICT, a bidirectional causality between internet access and economic growth in the short run and a unidirectional causal flow from internet access to economic growth was confirmed. Across all three measures of ICT, no causal relationship was confirmed between economic growth and income inequality. The study points to the importance of economic growth in increasing ICT access and the crucial role that internet access has on economic growth in South Africa. Policy implications are discussed. |
| Keywords: | South Africa, inequality, information and technology (ICT), economic growth, autoregressive distributed lag |
| JEL: | D31 O47 O33 |
| Date: | 2024–12–30 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:afa:wpaper:wp092024 |
| By: | Sascha O. Becker; Christian Dustmann; Hyejin Ku |
| Abstract: | We examine the long-term labor market impact of the steam engine, an early general-purpose technology, by linking newly digitized 19th-century records from Prussia to modern German labor market data (1975-2019). Regions with a higher concentration of steam engines per worker in 1875 exhibit higher wages today, primarily because of higher firm productivity and a more skilled workforce. These regions also exhibited greater skill diversity in 1939 and generated more innovations between 1877 and 1918, a pattern that persists to this day. Our findings highlight a lasting, self-reinforcing cycle between technology and skills, set in motion by the steam engine, offering a novel explanation for regional income disparities and their persistence. |
| Keywords: | steam engine, technology adoption, diversity, innovation, human capital, productivity |
| JEL: | I24 J24 O14 O33 |
| Date: | 2026–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:26013 |
| By: | Yasmine Elkhateeb; Riccardo Turati; Jérôme Valette |
| Abstract: | Does immigration challenge the identities, values, and cultural diversity of receiving societies? This paper addresses this question by analyzing the impact of immigration on cultural diversity in Europe between 2004 and 2018. It combines regional cultural diversity indices derived from the European Social Survey with immigration shares from the European Labor Force Survey. The results indicate that immigration increases the salience of birthplace identity along cultural lines, fostering a shift toward nativist identities among the native population. These identity shifts, in turn, trigger a process of cultural homogenization among natives. This effect is stronger in regions receiving culturally distant immigrants. It reflects a process of convergence toward the values of highly skilled liberal natives and divergence from those of low-skilled conservative immigrants. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, Social Identity, Cultural Diversity |
| JEL: | F22 D03 D72 Z10 |
| Date: | 2025–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:25120 |
| By: | Oded Galor; Daniel C. Wainstock |
| Abstract: | Is income inequality in the United States primarily driven by disparities between ethnic groups or within them? The evidence reveals a striking pattern: 96% of U.S. income inequality arises from variation within groups sharing common ancestral origins, far overshadowing the comparatively small share attributable to differences between these groups. This pattern remains remarkably stable across time and regions. |
| Keywords: | Inequality, Ethnicity, Within Group Inequality, Between Group Inequality |
| JEL: | O15 Z13 D63 J15 |
| Date: | 2026–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crm:wpaper:26003 |