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on Information and Communication Technologies |
| By: | Asongu, Simplice; Boateng, Agyenim; Akamavi, Raphael |
| Abstract: | A recent World Bank report reveals that poverty has been decreasing in all regions of the world with the exception of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) as more than 45% of countries in the sub-region are off-track from achieving the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) extreme poverty target. This paper investigates the effects of mobile phone technology, knowledge creation and diffusion on inclusive human development in 49 SSA countries for the period 2000-2012 using Tobit model. The study finds that mobile phone penetration in SSA is pivotal to sustainable and inclusive human development irrespective of the country’s level of income, legal origins, religious orientation and the state of the nation. However, the pupil-teacher ratio exerts a negative influence on inclusive human development. The net effects of interactions between the mobile phone and knowledge diffusion variables are positive. |
| Keywords: | Mobile phones; inclusive human development; Africa |
| JEL: | G20 I10 I32 O40 O55 |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:75046&r=ict |
| By: | Asongu, Simplice; Le Roux, Sara |
| Abstract: | This study investigates loan price and quantity effects of information sharing offices with ICT, in a panel of 162 banks consisting of 42 African countries for the period 2001-2011.The empirical evidence is based on Generalised Method of Moments and Instrumental Quantile Regressions. Our findings broadly show that ICT with public credit registries decrease the price of loans and increase the quantity of loans. While the net effects from the interaction of ICT with private credit bureaus do not lead to enhanced financial access, corresponding marginal effects show that ICT can complement private credit bureaus to increase loan quantity and decrease loan prices when certain thresholds of ICT are attained. We compute and discuss the ICT thresholds that are required to make this possible. |
| Keywords: | Financial access; Information asymmetry; ICT |
| JEL: | G20 G29 L96 O40 O55 |
| Date: | 2016–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:75043&r=ict |
| By: | Asongu, Simplice A; Le Roux, Sara |
| Abstract: | This study assesses if increasing information and communication technology (ICT) enhances inclusive human development in a sample of 49 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa for the period 2000-2012. The empirical evidence present in this study, is based on instrumental variable Tobit regressions, in order to account for simultaneity and the limited range in the dependent variable. In the interest of increasing room for policy implications and controlling for the unobserved heterogeneity, the analysis is decomposed into the fundamental characteristics that human development based on: income levels, legal origins, religious dominations, political stability, landlockedness and resource-wealth. Our findings show that policies designed to boost ICT (mobile phone, internet, telephone) penetration will increase inclusive development in the post-2015 sustainable development agenda. The degree of positive responsiveness of inclusive development to ICT varies across fundamental characteristics of human development and ICT dynamics. The study has substantial policy relevance because the adoption and/or penetration rate of ICT can be influenced by policy to achieve inclusive development outcomes. Further policy implications are also discussed. |
| Keywords: | ICT; Inclusive human development; Africa |
| JEL: | G20 I10 I32 O40 O55 |
| Date: | 2016–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:75048&r=ict |
| By: | Andrés, Antonio R.; Amavilah, Voxi; Asongu, Simplice A |
| Abstract: | Using data for 49 African countries over the years spanning 2000-2012, and controlling for a wide range of factors, this study empirically assesses the effects of formal institutions on ICT adoption in developing countries. It deploys 2SLS and FE regression models, (a) to estimate what determines ICT adoption and (b) to trace how ICT adoption affects inclusive development. The results show that formal institutions affect ICT adoption in this group of countries, with government effectiveness having the largest positive effect and regulations the largest negative effect. Generally, formal institutions appear more important to ICT adoption in low income countries than middle income countries, whereas population and economic growth tend to constrain ICT adoption with low income countries more negatively affected than middle income countries. The results further demonstrate that ICT adoption affects development strongly, and that such effects are comparable to those of domestic credit and foreign direct investment. Ceteris paribus, external factors like foreign aid are more limiting to inclusive development than internal factors. This suggests that developing countries can enhance their ICT adoption for development by improving formal institutions and by strengthening domestic determinants of ICT adoption. Both represent opportunities for further research. |
| Keywords: | Formal institutions, ICT adoption, panel data models, cross-country analysis |
| JEL: | G20 I10 I32 O40 O55 |
| Date: | 2016–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:75044&r=ict |
| By: | Jörn Altmann (Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea); Emanuele Carlini (ISTI, CNR, Pisa, Italy); Massimo Coppola (ISTI, CNR, Pisa, Italy); Patrizio Dazzi (ISTI, CNR, Pisa, Italy); Ana Juan Ferrer (Atos Origin, Barcelona, Spain); Netsanet Haile (Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea); Young-Woo Jung (ETRI, Daejeon, Korea); Dong-Jae Kang (ETRI, Daejeon, Korea); Iain-James Marshall (Amenesik, Paris, France); Konstantinos Tserpes (Harokopio University, Athens, Greece); Theodora Varvarigou (National Technical University of Athens, Athens, Greece) |
| Abstract: | Although mobile devices became more powerful and sophisticated over the last decade, enabling rich-multimedia services, resource constraints still hinder today’s mobile applications from reaching their potential. To address this, this work aims at delivering an architecture that supports changing needs of mobile users through an end-to-end approach. The outcomes are sets of requirements, each representing a set of prioritized platform functionalities, and the BASMATI architecture that integrates the sets. |
| Keywords: | Brokerage, Business-Aware Cloud Federation, Architecture, Off-loading, Mobility. |
| JEL: | L24 L86 |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:snv:dp2009:2016132&r=ict |