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on Information and Communication Technologies |
| By: | Magali Dauvin and Lukasz Grzybowski |
| Abstract: | In this paper we use panel data on NUTS 1 regional data for 27 EU countries in the years 2006-2010 to analyze determinants of broadband diffusion. We estimate both linear demand specification and the logistic diffusion function. We find that, after controlling for regional differences due to socioeconomic factors, inter-platform competition approximated by an inter-platform Herfindahl index has a significant positive impact on broadband diffusion. Broadband deployment is lower in countries in which DSL has a greater share in Internet access and it is higher in countries in which cable modem has a greater share in Internet access. Moreover, we find that competition between DSL providers has a significant and positive impact on broadband penetration. First, higher prices for a fully unbundled local loop connection, which represent the cost of providing copper-based Internet services, have a significant and negative impact on broadband penetration. Second, a greater incumbent share in DSL connections has a significant and negative impact on broadband penetration. |
| Keywords: | Broadband diffusion, Inter-platform competition, Intra-platform competition |
| JEL: | L1 L96 L51 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rza:wpaper:407&r=ict |
| By: | Lohmann, Steffen |
| Abstract: | Existing work on the economics of well-being suggests that a person's subjective well-being depends to a large degree on his relative standing within his social environment. In this paper, we examine whether access to modern information and telecommunication technologies has an impact on relative concerns by raising material aspirations. We use cross-sectional data from the fifth wave of the World Values Survey and provide empirical evidence that people who regularly use the internet as a source of information derive relatively less life satisfaction from the same level of income. Using panel data from the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions, we show that households in possession of a computer report needing significantly higher levels of income to make 'ends meet', given their actual level of income and a wide range of socio-economic characteristics. Our results corroborate the hypothesis that modern information technologies raise material aspirations via fostering relative concerns in the society. The empirical findings shed further light on the income-happiness paradox and identify a non-negligible channel how globalization might impact on subjective well-being. -- |
| JEL: | A12 D12 I31 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc13:79708&r=ict |
| By: | Richard Bennett (American Enterprise Institute) |
| Abstract: | Technology policy combines four complex disciplines: law, economics, engineering, and policy analysis. Very few people have comprehensive backgrounds in all four fields, so they tend to rely on the judgments of people with stronger grounding. But policy advocates often misstate facts in their own areas of expertise, either intentionally or as a result of subconscious bias. |
| Keywords: | tech policy,Outlook,internet,economics,CICT-Internet |
| JEL: | A O |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aei:rpaper:40064&r=ict |