|
on Information and Communication Technologies |
| By: | Federico Biagi (European Commission – JRC - IPTS); Smaranda Pantea (European Commission – JRC - IPTS); Anna Sabadash (European Commission – Eurostat) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines whether ICT substitute labour and reduce the demand for labour. We used firm-level comparable data separately for firms in manufacturing, services and ICT-producing sectors from seven European countries. We adopted a common methodology and applied it to a unique dataset provided by the ESSLait Project on Linking Microdata. We controlled for unobservable time-invariant firm-specific effects and we found no evidence of a negative relationship between intensity of ICT use and employment growth. We read this as an indication that ICT use is not reducing employment among ICT using firms. |
| Keywords: | Labour Demand, Technological Change, ICT |
| JEL: | J23 J24 O33 L86 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:decwpa:2014-07&r=ict |
| By: | Kongaut, Chatchai; Bohlin, Erik |
| Abstract: | Looking back at the last decade, the mobile phone has been greatly developed from only voice call and text message to a multi-purpose device, including camera, music player, games, and even small computer. The development of internet features in mobile phones has also continuously and extensively changed from providing only limited internet browsing in the early 2000s to watching high quality video on demand nowadays. The speed of internet is also significantly increased since the introduction of smartphones. After the implementation of 3G networks in the last decade and recently the LTE networks of 4G technology in the last few years, the transmission speed of mobile internet supports the use of mobile phones to be able to provide high-speed internet services which is called mobile broadband. Furthermore, recent studies have also suggested that mobile broadband positively affect economic outputs (see Thompson Jr. and Garbacz, 2011) as well as reduce the digital divide problem, especially in the rural where fixed broadband infrastructure is limited or not available (see Srinuan, C. et al., 2012 and Prieger, 2013). With a number of possible benefits from mobile internet/broadband, it is interesting to analyse how mobile internet adoption has developed in the last decade and what factors are currently determining mobile broadband adoption in this current stage where smartphones are highly developed and transmission speed is much improved. To understand an adoption and a usage of one service, the case study of one country is more suitable than a cross-country analysis. In this paper, Sweden is selected as a case study for representing a developed country with well-developed mobile and broadband services. The method of this paper is applying bivariate probit with sample selection since the dataset consist of two sets of binary outcomes (adoption and usage). The data used in this paper is mainly based on the annual questionnaire conducted by the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority (PTS) in 2013. |
| Keywords: | mobile broadband,mobile diffusion,mobile adoption,Sweden |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itsb14:106848&r=ict |
| By: | Tsai, Hsin-yi Sandy; Bauer, Johannes M. |
| Abstract: | The benefits of advanced information and communication services are increasingly dependent on the quality of the available connectivity. This paper examines the factors that influence the quality of fixed and mobile broadband access in OECD countries. Drawing on institutional economics, the study provides an integrated conceptual framework that allows analyzing the interaction of supply, demand, policy, and contextual factors. We explore the drivers of broadband access and quality and potential interdependencies between them. Our focus is on the role of public policy decisions as a determinant of quality and quality upgrades of fixed and mobile access networks. We also find evidence that regulatory interventions such as unbundling or open access provision do have a positive contribution in markets with limited competition. However, the findings also provide evidence that the best policy approach is dependent on the specific context of a country so that no single best practice model emerges from the observations. |
| Keywords: | Broadband quality,unbundling,open access,competition,spectrum policy |
| JEL: | L51 L86 L88 L96 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itsb14:106884&r=ict |
| By: | Anania, Loretta; Passani, Antonella |
| Abstract: | Social innovation plays an important role in addressing societal challenges. We map Digital Social Innovation (DSI) in terms of the international research efforts and investments made in Europe over the last decade. DSI aims to promote innovation and social change based on the network effect: meaning internet connections, web collaborative tools, sharing of open data and a process of bottom-up peer-supported activities and applications). Examples are given on the novel use of information platforms, data from sensor networks and community use of mobile phones. The impact measurement of the DSI initiative at social, economic and environmental level is presented. Our data comes from the EU activities and R&D grants awarded up to 2014. We describe the concept, the context, and the type of investments made by the European Union in this field. The final part of the paper concerns DSI impact evaluation and proposes a methodological framework for assessing specific results in a qualitative and quantitative way. |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itsb14:106838&r=ict |
| By: | Carvalho, Fernando; Feferman, Flavio; Knight, Peter; Woroch, Glenn |
| Abstract: | The Cinturão Digital do Ceará (CDC) is a pioneering infrastructure project that delivers broadband access to large cities, small towns and rural areas throughout the State of Ceará in northeast Brazil. The CDC was built and operated using a unique business model that innovates on the standard public-private partnership (PPP) - an increasingly popular means to undertake Information Communications Technology (ICT) deployments. We review the technical, legal and organizational features of the CDC project with a focus on how they were designed to cope with the unique economic and political conditions of the region. It is particularly instructive how the CDC business model evolved over time in response to political challenges and market failures. We highlight how the model can be adapted to other regions within Brazil, as well as to other developing countries, that seek to pursue dual goals of financial sustainability expansion of broadband access to underserved populations. |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itsb14:106882&r=ict |
| By: | Alleman, James; Rappoport, Paul |
| Abstract: | In the mid-1980s a movement towards privatization and de-regulation of the telecommunications sector was begun. The sector has been privatized in most countries and subjected to regulatory reform. The major reform occurred in the late 1990s. Since then the internet and cellular-mobile industries have advanced significantly. Mobile service has exploded, particularly in the developing world. This has changed the dynamics of the industry dramatically. This paper empirically evaluates the reforms twenty-plus years after they have been implemented in selected Latin American countries using cross-country analysis. Earlier studies did not account for the regulatory environment nor cover the entire ICT sector. This paper empirically evaluates the impact of regulation in selected Latin American countries. The results are only suggestive, but not conclusive - that weaker regulation supports investment in the ICT sector due to higher prices for the service. |
| Keywords: | Information & communications technology (ICT),economic growth,investment,mobile phones,privatization,regulation,regulatory reform |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itsb14:106842&r=ict |
| By: | Joseph Francois (World Trade Institute); Bertin Martens (European Commission – JRC - IPTS); Fan Yang (Hohenheim University) |
| Abstract: | We use data on cross-border e-commerce between EU Member States to estimate the implied cross-border trade cost reduction when consumers move from offline to online consumption. We plug this trade cost estimate into a macro-sector multi-country CGE model to estimate the impact of online retailing on consumers as well as producers. We find that cross-border e-commerce increases real household consumption. However, the domestic spill-over effect squeezes price margins in the retail sector and has a negative output effect for that sector. The resulting retail sector efficiency gains have a positive effect on production in other sectors. The combined macro-economic effect of these transmission channels is generally positive for EU Member States, ranging between 0.07 and 0.25 per cent of GDP. As such, this paper adds an innovative macro-perspective to existing micro-economic estimates of the impact of e-commerce on consumer welfare. |
| Keywords: | e-commerce, online trade, cross-border trade, international trade, EU digital single market, CGE model, non-tariff barriers |
| JEL: | F14 C54 |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:decwpa:2014-10&r=ict |
| By: | Rajabiun, Reza; Middleton, Catherine |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes if and how the design of telecommunications regulatory institutions has influenced the evolution of Internet connectivity in approximately 100 countries between 2007 and 2014. While most advanced and developing countries have adopted policies and regulations intended to enhance private sector incentives for the provision of Internet access infrastructure, there is little consensus about the optimal design of telecommunications policies and regulations, how they should reflect differences in endowments and institutional settings across countries, or their impact on network infrastructure development. Using measurements of network connectivity speeds and cross-country institutional differences this article presents and analyzes patterns of regulatory design and their possible impact on the evolution of Internet access infrastructure capacity around the world. We find that sector specific indicators of formal rules and institutional arrangements do not vary significantly with income or indicators of the evolution of connectivity. General and sector specific indicators of perceived institutional quality are positively associated with cross-country differences in Internet connectivity speeds, but do not help explain differences in their growth rates. We further explore the implications of the apparent dichotomy between formal and perceived institutional quality for public policy and private sector participation in the development of Internet access infrastructure. |
| Keywords: | Internet,infrastructure,institutions,regulation,development,digital divide |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itsb14:106892&r=ict |
| By: | Mitomo, Hitoshi |
| Abstract: | This presentation outlines a proposal for a new frame work for the provision of universal service aimed at solving the various issues inherent in community informatization, and goes on to look at the advantages and disadvantages of the proposed framework and review its feasibility. In order to ensure that telecommunications services are universally accessible, in less favored areas, universal service is currently provided for analog landline telephones by using a universal service fund system to supplement a portion of costs of the qualified telecommunications carriers. With the development of optical networks, optical IP phones have also been included as a technology for which universal service is provided, but at the same time dependence on land line phones is decreasing due to the popularity and convenience of cell-phones. As this is accompanied by developments such as the fact thatalmost100%of Japanese households now have broadband access, there is a pressing need for radical review of the system from a technical perspective. Additionally, given that consumers' organizations and other bodies strongly oppose the fact that carriers pass on the burden of their universal service fund contributions so that the full amount of contributions is shared between telephone number users, it is also necessary to reconsider the approach to how cost burdens are shared. At the same time, while 2.5GHzbandregionalBroadband Wireless Access (BWA)has been made available for providing broadband in rural areas, its level of usage is low and ensuring its utilization is a matter of urgency. This presentation will deal with these issues collectively, and propose a framework for maintaining and developing community informatization. |
| Keywords: | Universal service,less favored areas,community informatization,regional broadband,regional BWA |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:itsb14:106846&r=ict |