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on Information and Communication Technologies |
| By: | Jacob Malone (University of Georgia, Department of Economics, 310 Herty Drive, 535 Brooks Hall, Athens GA 30602); Aviv Nevo (Northwestern University, Department of Economics, 2001 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208); Jonathan Williams (University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill, Department of Economics, 141 South Road, Gardner Hall 107, CB# 3305, Chapel Hill, NC 27599) |
| Abstract: | The way in which consumers use the Internet is changing rapidly, and over-the-top video services (OTTV) are a major contributor to this trend. The dramatic rise of OTTV services has led to major changes in the telecommunications sector and greater attention to several important and ongoing public policy debates. We provide an essential component to inform these policy debates: an in-depth descriptive analysis of the rapidly changing way in which consumers use the Internet from a representative sample of consumers. At the core of our contribution are unique data from the spring and summer of 2015 that we acquired from a North American ISP that provides detailed disaggregated high-frequency information on individuals’ Internet usage. We provide insight into temporal patterns in usage within the day, measure persistence in the level and composition of usage across days, and contrast usage patterns for consumers that subscribe to traditional pay TV services (i.e., purchase a bundle of services from the operator) to those that do not. We also present results on how the level and composition of usage for a consumer changes immediately after “cutting the cord” and dropping traditional linear TV service. |
| Keywords: | Residential Broadband, Demand, Net Neutrality, Usage-based Pricing, Municipal Broadband, Cord Cutting |
| JEL: | L11 L13 L96 |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:net:wpaper:1506&r=all |
| By: | Julia Cagé (Sciences Po Paris, Department of Economics, 28 rue des Saints Pères, 75007 Paris, France); Nicolas Hervé (Institut National de l’Audiovisuel (INA), Département de la Recherche, 4 avenue de l’Europe, 94366 Bry sur Marne, France); Marie-Luce Viaud (Institut National de l’Audiovisuel (INA), Département de la Recherche, 4 avenue de l’Europe, 94366 Bry sur Marne, France) |
| Abstract: | Information is costly to produce but cheap to reproduce. Who are the main providers of original news in the online world, and are they rewarded for this? What are the benefits of breaking out a story, and how does information propagate? This paper addresses these issues by exploiting a unique dataset including all online content produced by general information media outlets in France during year 2013. Tracking every piece of content produced by these outlets, we develop a topic detection algorithm to construct the set of news stories. We study the timeline of each story and distinguish between original reporting and copy-and-paste. We then merge this content data with data on investment in news gathering and daily audience to investigate the costs and benefits of information production. This paper offers a typology of online media outlets and associated business models. We first highlight the specific role played by news agencies. AFP has the largest news desk and is the main provider of original information, reflecting the use of an adequate copyright system. We then find a quasi-linear relationship between the number of journalists, the quantity of original news production, and online audience. This positive correlation hold for all the media outlets independently of their offline support; hence the relevance of a transmedia approach. However online audience does not translate into significant revenues. This illustrates the need to develop new paywall or copyright models. |
| Keywords: | Internet, information production, paywall, copyright, online audience |
| JEL: | L11 L15 L82 L86 |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:net:wpaper:1505&r=all |
| By: | Liang Chen (Economics and Management School, Wuhan University, Luojia Hill, Wuhan, China, 430072); Garrett Johnson (Simon Business School, University of Rochester, 3-206 Carol Simon Hall, Box 270100, Rochester, NY 14627); Yao Luo (Department of Economics, University of Toronto, Max Gluskin House 322, 150 St. George Street, Toronto) |
| Abstract: | Alibaba’s Taobao is China’s dominant C2C e-commerce platform. Relying on novel transaction level data from its electronics category, this paper examines the roles of distance as well as seller and buyer experience in Chinese e-commerce. Our estimate of a gravity model shows that the distance elasticity in our data is greater than US C2C e-commerce but smaller than that of South America. In addition, we document greater home bias in China than either of the US or South American Settings. Moreover, by estimating a “new-new” trade model using seller-level transaction data, this paper studies the link between seller experience and distance. Our results show that more experienced sellers tend to sell more and export their goods farther into the marketplace. |
| Keywords: | e-commmerce, China, gravity, distance, domestic trade, Internet marketing |
| JEL: | F10 F14 L86 |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:net:wpaper:1514&r=all |
| By: | Evan Borkum; Anitha Sivasankaran; Swetha Sridharan; Dana Rotz; Sukhmani Sethi; Mercy Manoranjini; Lakshmi Ramakrishnan; Anu Rangarajan |
| Keywords: | Information and Communication Technology , ICT, Continuum of Care Services, CCS, Intervention in Bihar |
| JEL: | F Z |
| Date: | 2015–05–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:2e2826deedb94ee18890653d81cb601a&r=all |
| By: | Simplice Asongu (Yaoundé/Cameroun) |
| Abstract: | Using twenty-five policy variables, we investigate determinants of mobile phone/banking in 49 Sub-Saharan African countries with data for the year 2011. The determinants are classified into six policy categories, notably: macroeconomic, business/bank, market-related, knowledge economy, external flows and human development. The empirical evidence is based on contemporary and non-contemporary Quantile regressions. The following implications are relevant to the findings. First, mobile phone penetration is positively correlated with: (i) education, domestic savings, regulation quality and patent applications, especially at low initial levels of mobile penetration; (ii) bank density; (iii) urban population density and (iv) internet penetration. Second, the use of the mobile to pay bills is positively linked with: (i) trade and internet penetration, especially in contemporary specifications and (ii) remittances and patent applications, especially at low initial levels of the dependent variable. Third, using the mobile to send/receive money is positively correlated with: internet penetration and human development, especially in the contemporary specifications. Fourth, mobile banking is positively linked with: (i) trade in contemporary specifications; (ii) remittances and patent applications at low initial levels of the dependent variable and (iii) internet penetration and human development, with contemporary threshold evidence. The policy implications are articulated with incremental policy syndromes. |
| Keywords: | Mobile phones; Mobile banking; Development; Africa |
| JEL: | G20 L96 O11 O33 O55 |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:agd:wpaper:15/043&r=all |
| By: | Giulia Canzian; Samuele Poy; Simone Schüller |
| Abstract: | This article analyzes the causal impact of advanced broadband accessibility on firm performance. We exploit a unique local policy intervention of a staged broadband infrastructure installation across rural municipalities in the Province of Trento (Italy), generating a source of exogenous (spatial and temporal) variation in the provision of next-generation broadband technology (ADSL2+). Employing a difference-in-differences strategy and using longitudinal firm-level data on annual balance sheet information of corporate enterprises, we show that ADSL2+ availability is associated with a significant increase in annual sales turnover of about 40 percent and an increase in value added of roughly 25 percent over the period of two years. The positive effect is found to be rather stable for different lengths of treatment exposure and across industrial sectors. However, no significant effects are found with respect to number of employees. Placebo estimations support a causal interpretation of our results. Overall, established corporate enterprises in ‘underserved’ rural and remote areas appear to profit considerably from enhanced broadband delivery programs in terms of economic performance. |
| Keywords: | broadband internet, firm performance, quasi experiment, regional development |
| JEL: | O33 J24 L24 L26 |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fbk:wpaper:2015-10&r=all |
| By: | Bulman, George (University of California, Santa Cruz); Fairlie, Robert W. (University of California, Santa Cruz) |
| Abstract: | A substantial amount of money is spent on technology by schools, families and policymakers with the hope of improving educational outcomes. This chapter explores the theoretical and empirical literature on the impacts of technology on educational outcomes. The literature focuses on two primary contexts in which technology may be used for educational purposes: i) classroom use in schools, and ii) home use by students. Theoretically, ICT investment and CAI use by schools and the use of computers at home have ambiguous implications for educational achievement: expenditures devoted to technology necessarily offset inputs that may be more or less efficient, and time allocated to using technology may displace traditional classroom instruction and educational activities at home. However, much of the evidence in the schooling literature is based on interventions that provide supplemental funding for technology or additional class time, and thus favor finding positive effects. Nonetheless, studies of ICT and CAI in schools produce mixed evidence with a pattern of null results. Notable exceptions to this pattern occur in studies of developing countries and CAI interventions that target math rather than language. In the context of home use, early studies based on multivariate and instrumental variables approaches tend to find large positive (and in a few cases negative) effects while recent studies based on randomized control experiments tend to find small or null effects. Early research focused on developed countries while more recently several experiments have been conducted in developing countries. |
| Keywords: | technology, education, computers, internet, software |
| JEL: | I2 |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9432&r=all |