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on Information and Communication Technologies |
| By: | Michele Pellizzari (Institute of Economics and Econometrics, University of Geneva); Federico Biagi (European Commission – JRC - IPTS); Barbara Brecko (Institute for contemporary social and political studies (Slovenia)) |
| Abstract: | In this report we produce measures of skill mismatch in the domain of problem solving in technology-rich-environments using PIAAC data for the 13 countries of the European Union participating in the programme (plus the US), extending the methodology developed in Pellizzari and Fichen (2013). We define every worker as well-matched if her ICT skills fall in between the minimum and maximum requirement of the occupation in which she is observed, as under-skilled if they fall below the minimum and over-skilled if they are above the maximum. Our results indicate that, on average, about 87% of the workers in our final sample are well-matched, about 10% are over-skilled and 3% under-skilled. Ireland and the Slovak Republic are the countries with the highest incidence of over-skilling (mostly at the expenses of the well-matched) whereas Poland and The Netherlands only have about 5%. Under-skilling is highest in Sweden and Belgium but there seems to be quite a bit less variation in the incidence of under (relative to over)-skilling. These findings contrast sharply with results obtained using other popular methods adopted in the literature. |
| Keywords: | Labour Demand, Technological Change, ICT, employment |
| JEL: | J23 J24 O33 L86 |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:decwpa:2015-10&r=ict |
| By: | Chang, C-L.; McAleer, M.J.; Wu, Y-C. |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the effect of industrial penetration and internet intensity for Taiwan manufacturing firms, and analyses whether the relationships are substitutes or complements. The sample observations are based on 153,081 manufacturing plants, and covers 26 two-digit industry categories and 358 geographical townships in Taiwan. The Heckman selection model is used to accommodate sample selectivity for unobservable data for firms that use the internet. The empirical results from two-stage estimation show that: (1) a higher degree of industrial penetration will not affect the probability that firms will use the internet, but will affect the total expenditure on internet intensity; (2) for two-digit industries, industrial penetration generally decreases the total expenditure on internet intensity; and (3) industrial penetration and internet intensity are substitutes. |
| Keywords: | Industrial penetration, Internet intensity, Sample selection, Incidental truncation |
| JEL: | L60 D22 |
| Date: | 2016–04–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ems:eureir:80110&r=ict |
| By: | M. E. Bontempi; R. Golinelli; M. Squadrani |
| Abstract: | The preliminary evidence in the literature suggests that changes in uncertainty have a role in shaping the U.S. economic cycle. But what is effectively measured by the different available indicators of uncertainty still remains an "uncertain" issue. This paper has two aims: (i) to introduce a new uncertainty indicator (GT) based on Internet searches; and (ii) to compare the main features and the macroeconomic effects of alternative measures of uncertainty, including our own. Results suggest that GT shocks embody timely information about people's perception of uncertainty and, in some cases, earlier than other indexes. Furthermore, the effect of uncertainty shocks on output is more influenced by parameter breaks due to insample events than by model specification. The consequence is that an all-comprehensive indicator able to weight different sources of uncertainty is preferable. |
| JEL: | D80 E32 E27 E37 C32 |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bol:bodewp:wp1062&r=ict |
| By: | Hussain, Safdar; Ahmed, Wasim; Rabnawaz, Ambar; Jafar, Rana Muhammad Sohail; Akhtar, Haseeb; JianZhou, Yang |
| Abstract: | Fujian and Taiwan has shared a strong cross-strait agricultural relation, and the government is keen to further strengthen the trade between the two. There has been substantial growth in the Fujian trade with Taiwan in agricultural goods that has increased more than $ 2.7 billion in 2013 for a year-on-year growth of 70%. This study adopted secondary data collection method to obtain information for the research. The research was mainly qualitative to acquire in-depth information on the matter under study. The findings showed that with the help of e-commerce both Fujian and Taiwan have been benefited with low transaction costs and efficient supply chain management to ensure effective trade. |
| Keywords: | Supply Chain Management, Agriculture, E-Commerce, Trade |
| JEL: | O3 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:70381&r=ict |
| By: | Ross Richardson; Matteo G. Richiardi |
| Abstract: | We introduce JAS-mine, a new Java-based computational platform that features tools to support the development of large-scale, data-driven, discrete-event simulations. JAS-mine is speci cally designed for both agent-based and microsimulation modelling, anticipating a convergence between the two approaches. An embedded relational database management system provides tools for sophisticated input-output communications and data storage, allowing the power of relational databases to be used within an object-oriented framework. The JAS-mine philosophy encourages the separation of distinct concepts, objects and functionalities of the simulation model, and advocates and supports transparency, exibility and modularity in model design. For instance, JAS-mine allows to store the list of regressors and the estimated coecients externally to code, making it easy to change the speci cation of the regression models used in the simulation and achieving a complete parallelisation between the tasks of the econometric ians and those of the programmers. Moreover, tools for uncertainty analysis and search over the parameter space are also built in. |
| Keywords: | Simulation platform, Microsimulation, Agent-based, Software, Open-source. |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cca:wplabo:147&r=ict |
| By: | Marcel Fafchamps; Mans Soderbom; Monique vanden Boogaart |
| Abstract: | Using a large administrate dataset covering the universe of phone calls and airtime transfers in a country over a four year period, we examine the pattern of adoption of airtime transfers over time. We start by documenting strong network effects: increased usage of the new airtime transfer service by social neighbors predicts a higher adoption probability. We then seek to narrow down the possible sources of these network effects by distinguishing between network externalities and social learning. Within social learning, we also seek to differentiate between learning about existence of the new product from learning about its quality or usefulness. We find robust evidence suggestive of social learning both for the existence and the quality of the product. In contrast, we find that network effects turn negative after first adoption, suggesting that airtime transfers are strategic substitutes among network neighbors. |
| JEL: | D12 D83 O33 |
| Date: | 2016–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:22282&r=ict |
| By: | Philipp Möhlmeier (BiGSEM - University Bielefeld); Agnieszka Rusinowska (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne - Paris School of Economics); Emily Tanimura (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne) |
| Abstract: | In a network formation framework, where payoffs reflect an agent's ability to access information from direct and indirect contacts, we integrate negative externalities due to connectivity associated with two types of effects: competition for the access to information, and rivalrous use of information. We consider two separate models to capture the first and the second situations, respectively. In the first model, we assume that information is a non-rivalrous good but that there is competition for the access to information, for example because an agent with many contacts must share his time between them and thus has fewer opportunities to pass on information to each particular contact. The main idea is that the probability that each neighbor receives the information decreases with the number of contacts the sender has. In the second model, we assume that there is not competition for the access to information but that the use of information is rivalrous. In this case, it is assumed that when people receive the information before me, the harmful effect is greater than when others receive the information at the same time as myself. Our results concern pairwise stability and efficiency in both models and allow us to compare and contrast the effects of two kinds of competition for information |
| Keywords: | network formation; connections model; information; negative externalities; pairwise stability; efficiency |
| JEL: | D85 C70 |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mse:cesdoc:16033&r=ict |