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on Information and Communication Technologies |
| By: | Aristovnik, Aleksander |
| Abstract: | The purpose of the paper is to review some previous researches examining ICT efficiency and the impact of ICT on educational output/outcome as well as different conceptual and methodological issues related to performance measurement. Moreover, a definition, measurements and the empirical application of a model measuring the efficiency of ICT use and its impact at national levels will be considered. For this purpose, the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) technique is presented and then applied to selected EU-27 and OECD countries. The empirical results show that the efficiency of ICT, when taking educational outputs/outcomes into consideration, differs significantly across the great majority of EU and OECD countries. The analysis of the varying levels of (output-oriented) efficiency (under the VRSTE framework) shows that Finland, Norway, Belgium and Korea are the most efficient countries in terms of their ICT sectors. Finally, the analysis finds evidence that most of the countries under consideration hold great potential for increased efficiency in ICT and for improving their educational outputs and outcomes. |
| Keywords: | Information and Communication Technology (ICT); education; performance; efficiency; DEA; EU; OECD |
| JEL: | I2 L8 O57 H5 O3 |
| Date: | 2012–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:39805&r=ict |
| By: | Fabio Landini |
| Abstract: | The organization of information production is undergoing a deep transformation. Alongside media corporations, which have been for long time the predominant institutions of information production, new organizational forms have emerged, e.g. free software communities, open-content on-line wikis, collective blogs, distributed platforms for resource sharing. The paper investigates the factors that favoured the emergence of these alternative systems, called peer production. Differently from most of the previous literature, the paper does so by considering technology (i.e. digital code) as an endogenous variable in the process of organizational design. On this basis the paper argues that the diffusion of digital technology is a necessary but not sufficient condition to explain the emergence of peer production. A similarly important role has been played by the specific set of ethics that motivated the early adherents to the free software movement. Such an ethics indeed operated as a sort of “cultural subsidy” that helped to overcome the complementarities existing among distinct institutional domains, and let a new organizational species to emerge. |
| Keywords: | peer production, organizational equilibria, institutional complementarities, transaction costs |
| JEL: | B52 D23 K20 L17 O34 |
| Date: | 2012–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usi:wpaper:645&r=ict |
| By: | Matttia De' Grassi Di Pianura (CERNA - Centre d'économie industrielle - Mines ParisTech) |
| Abstract: | To market a new network technology effectively, manufacturers need to understand the structure and size of network effects associated with the product. If consumers' surplus from adoption depends positively on the number of interconnections in the network, early adopters may need to be subsidized until a critical mass is reached. Moreover, in a two-sided market where platforms and complementary contents are constrained to non-negative prices, subsidies can be provided both by platform manufacturers and byproducers of complementary contents. The article presents a model to analyse adoption dynamics with different subsidies and different stand-alone values for technology. The model shows that if the standalone value of technology is limited, subsidies from complementary contents producers may be pivotal to reach the critical mass. Moreover, under given conditions, this type of subsidies can lead to a more efficient adoption, increasing social welfare. In this case, assuming a monopolist platform manufacturer of the technology, complete contracts are needed to reach the Pareto optimal equilibrium. |
| Keywords: | two-sided markets; network effects; technology adoption; copyright; vertical relations; media economics |
| Date: | 2012–06–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-00714447&r=ict |