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on Information and Communication Technologies |
| By: | Réka Juhász; Claudia Steinwender |
| Abstract: | This paper studies how information and communication technology (ICT) improvements affect trade along the value chain and international technology diffusion. We examine the impact of a revolutionary technology, the roll-out of the global telegraph network, on the 19th century cotton textile industry. First, we show that connection to the telegraph disproportionately increased trade in intermediate goods relative to final goods. We document that this was due to differences in codifiability; that is, the extent to which product specifications could be communicated at a distance using only words (and thus by sending telegrams) as opposed to inspecting a sample of the product. Second, adoption of the telegraph also facilitated international technology diffusion through the complementary mechanisms of importing machinery and acquiring knowledge of the production process and local demand through importing intermediates. These results shed light on how ICT facilitates the formation of global value chains and the diffusion of frontier technology. |
| JEL: | F14 N7 O14 O33 |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:24590&r=ict |
| By: | Flavio Calvino (OECD); Chiara Criscuolo (OECD); Luca Marcolin (OECD); Mariagrazia Squicciarini (OECD) |
| Abstract: | This study proposes a taxonomy of sectors according to the extent to which they have gone digital. The taxonomy accounts for some of the key facets of the digital transformation, and recognises that sectors differ in their development and adoption of the most advanced “digital” technologies, in the human capital needed to embed them in production and in the extent to which digital tools are used to deal with clients and suppliers. The indicators used to classify 36 ISIC revision 4 sectors over the period 2001-15 are: share of ICT tangible and intangible (i.e. software) investment; share of purchases of intermediate ICT goods and services; stock of robots per hundreds of employees; share of ICT specialists in total employment; and the share of turnover from online sales. The study further proposes an overall summary indicator of the digital transformation in sectors which encompasses all the considered dimensions. |
| Date: | 2018–06–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:stiaaa:2018/14-en&r=ict |
| By: | Heldman, Christina; Enste, Dominik |
| Abstract: | Even though people regularly express concern about sharing personal information online and fear a loss of privacy, their behavior seldom matches their opinions - A phenomenon called Privacy Paradox and researched for over 20 years. Several influencing factors have been identified. A central one of these is trust, which strongly impacts the relationship between general concerns and actual behavior. This study investigates the impact of trust on the decision to disclose sensitive information online and examines the antecedents of that trust, focusing on the disposition to trust using a computerized laboratory experiment. Results indicate that dispositional trust determines the level of trust placed in the recipient of private data, especially when the person is unfamiliar with this recipient. This knowledge can be useful for business and politics in the design of marketing strategies and consumer protection policies. The study furthermore provides valuable insights on the relatedness between trust measures, which are discussed. |
| JEL: | C90 D91 O33 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:iwkrep:192018&r=ict |
| By: | Jones, Calvin |
| Abstract: | The internet and e-connectivity more generally are increasingly held to be an important element of business success. Evidence however suggests that the productive impacts of such technologies are contingent on factors that include firm size and sector, and human capital. It follows that if companies with these characteristics are unevenly distributed across space, the increasing importance of broadband in economic activity might impact unevenly on economic outcomes across space. We examine the Cardiff City-Region in South Wales, where the distribution of businesses and skills suggests that without policy intervention the roll out of broadband might further increase economic disparities between the relatively prosperous coastal belt and the poorer post-industrial hinterland. |
| Keywords: | City-regions; broadband; economic development; automation |
| JEL: | O1 O10 O33 |
| Date: | 2018–02–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:86636&r=ict |
| By: | Gaenssle, Sophia; Budzinski, Oliver; Astakhova, Daria |
| Abstract: | This paper empirically examines various factors influencing box office success of international movies in Russia between 2012 and 2016. Three groups of success factors are distinguished: distribution related (e.g. budget, franchise), brand and star effects (e.g. top actors or directors), and information sources (e.g. critics and audience rating). We extend the literature by applying novel concepts such as Google-hits as indicator for electronic word of mouth. Moreover, we add novel region-specific variables like seasonality, time span between the world and local release, attendance of international stars at Russian movie premieres and title adaptation into the Russian language. The results indicate that budget, franchise, electronic word of mouth through the internet and audience ratings exert a significantly positive influence on Russian box office success. Whereas, we find no evidence of star effects in our sample and significantly negative effects for international critics, and, interestingly, the adaption of movie titles |
| Keywords: | motion picture economics,movies,entertainment,box office success,Russia |
| JEL: | L10 L82 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:tuiedp:113&r=ict |
| By: | Wouter Zant (VU Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | We measure the impact of search costs on farmers’ and traders’ transaction prices in Mozambique by investigating to what extent the introduction of mobile phones has affected the margin between recorded maize producer and retail market prices, and by exploring if producers or traders benefit from possible margin changes. Estimations are based on weekly producer and retail market prices of white maize grain, from July 1997 to December 2009, for 15 major producer markets in Mozambique. We find a margin increase that varies from 4.5% to 9.6%, supporting a bias of benefits of mobile phones towards maize traders and hence not less asymmetric information and increased trader competition, but rather the reverse. Impacts on producer and market prices independently vary, but confirm the margin results. Estimation results are robust for non-random rollout of the mobile phone network and various other threats. |
| Keywords: | search costs; transport costs; mobile phones; agricultural markets; maize prices; Mozambique; sub-Sahara Africa |
| JEL: | O13 O33 Q11 Q13 |
| Date: | 2018–06–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20180055&r=ict |
| By: | Ebert, Tobias; Eichstaedt, Johannes C.; Lee, Neil; Obschonka, Martin; Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés |
| Abstract: | There is increasing interest in the potential of artificial intelligence and Big Data (e.g., generated via social media) to help understand economic outcomes and processes. But can artificial intelligence models, solely based on publicly available Big Data (e.g., language patterns left on social media), reliably identify geographical differences in entrepreneurial personality/culture that are associated with entrepreneurial activity? Using a machine learning model processing 1.5 billion tweets by 5.25 million users, we estimate the Big Five personality traits and an entrepreneurial personality profile for 1,772 U.S. counties. We find that these Twitter-based personality estimates show substantial relationships to county-level entrepreneurship activity, accounting for 24% (entrepreneurial personality profile) and 32% (all Big Five trait as separate predictors in one model) of the variance in local entrepreneurship and are robust to the introduction in the model of conventional economic factors that affect entrepreneurship. We conclude that artificial intelligence methods, analysing publically available social media data, are indeed able to detect entrepreneurial patterns, by measuring territorial differences in entrepreneurial personality/culture that are valid markers of actual entrepreneurial behaviour. More importantly, such social media datasets and artificial intelligence methods are able to deliver similar (or even better) results than studies based on millions of personality tests (selfreport studies). Our findings have a wide range of implications for research and practice concerned with entrepreneurial regions and eco-systems, and regional economic outcomes interacting with local culture. |
| Keywords: | artificial intelligence; Big Data; Big Five; Counties; entrepreneurship; personality; psychological traits; social media; Twitter; U.S. |
| JEL: | L26 R11 R12 |
| Date: | 2018–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:12949&r=ict |