nep-ict 2009-08-02 papers

on Information and Communication Technologies

Issue of 2009‒08‒02
three papers chosen by
Walter Frisch
University Vienna

The Role of Digital Identity Management in the Internet Economy: A Primer for Policy Makers By OECD
The Electronic Payment System as an e-commerce enabler: The Macedonian perspective By Abdullai, Besim
Employee Education, Information and Communication Technology, Workplace Organization and Trade: A Comparative Analysis of Greek and Swiss Enterprises By Spyros Arvanitis; Euripidis N. Loukis

The Role of Digital Identity Management in the Internet Economy: A Primer for Policy Makers

By:	OECD
Abstract:	This primer aims to provide policy makers a broad-brush understanding of the various dimensions of digital identity management (IdM). Consistent with the Seoul Ministerial Declaration, it also aims to support efforts to address public policy issues for securely managing and protecting digital identities, with a view to strengthening confidence in the online activities crucial to the growth of the Internet Economy.
Date:	2009–06–11
URL:	http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:stiaab:160-en&r=ict

The Electronic Payment System as an e-commerce enabler: The Macedonian perspective

By:	Abdullai, Besim
Abstract:	The payment system represents a sum of instruments, procedures and infrastructure for money transfer. It is of great importance for all economic agents since it enables fast and efficient payments in the national economy as well as internationally. Electronic payment system functionality is measured through analysis of the transactions committed, structure of the electronic instruments available within a country, and payment instruments used during payment of purchased or ordered products or services. The use of Electronic Payment Instruments in Macedonia is growing steadily, which shows that the EPS system in this country is continually growing and is in some extend well organized, people are friendly to ICT and conduct electronic transactions easily. E-banking activities in Macedonia started, but remain in low levels; which is a fact for e-commerce activities in general.
Keywords:	e-commerce; Electronic Payment Systems; Electronic Payment Instruments
JEL:	M1 C22 G21
Date:	2009–01
URL:	http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:13994&r=ict

Employee Education, Information and Communication Technology, Workplace Organization and Trade: A Comparative Analysis of Greek and Swiss Enterprises

By:	Spyros Arvanitis (KOF Swiss Economic Institute, ETH Zurich, Switzerland); Euripidis N. Loukis (University of the Aegean, Department of Information and Communication Systems Engineering, Karlovassi/Samos, Greeece)
Abstract:	This paper aims at investigating empirically at the firm level the effect of the use of modern information and communication technologies (ICT), and also of two other factors, the adoption of new forms of workplace organization and trade (export) activities, on the demand for employees with different levels of (vocational) education. The study is based on firm-level data collected through a common questionnaire from firms’ samples of similar composition (concerning firm sizes and industries) in Greece and Switzerland; from these data econometric models of similar specification have been constructed for both countries. The results of multivariate analysis show that the intensive use of ICT correlates positively with the employment shares of high-educated personnel and negatively with the ones of the loweducated personnel. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis of ‘skill-biased technical change’. Further, the intensive use of “employee voice”-oriented organizational practices correlates positively with the employment shares of high-educated employees in both countries, and also negatively with the employment share of low-educated ones only for the Swiss firms. The results for the “work design” organizational practices are more ambiguous. Thus, there is only partial confirmation of the hypothesis of skilled-biased organizational change. Finally, we found some evidence in favour of the trade effect (export activities) only for the Swiss firms. Our results show both similarities and differences in the above aspects between Greece and Switzerland and indicate that national context characteristics affect the relationship of the demand for employees with different levels of (vocational) education with ICT use, adoption of new forms of workplace organization and trade.
Keywords:	labour demand, labour skills, information technology, workplace organization
JEL:	J23 J24
Date:	2009–07
URL:	http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kof:wpskof:09-234&r=ict

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