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on Information and Communication Technologies |
| By: | Simplice A. Asongu (Yaoundé/Cameroon); Nicholas M. Odhiambo (Pretoria, South Africa) |
| Abstract: | This study examines if enhancing ICT reduces inequality in 48 countries in Africa for the period 2004-2014. Three inequality indictors are used, namely, the: Gini coefficient, Atkinson index and Palma ratio. The adopted ICT indicators include: mobile phone penetration, internet penetration and fixed broadband subscriptions. The empirical evidence is based on the Generalised Method of Moments. Enhancing internet penetration and fixed broadband subscriptions have a net effect on reducing the Gini coefficient and the Atkinson index, whereas increasing mobile phone penetration and internet penetration reduces the Palma ratio. Policy implications are discussed in the light of challenges to Sustainable Development Goals. |
| Keywords: | ICT; Inclusive development; Africa; Sustainable development |
| JEL: | G20 I10 I32 O40 O55 |
| Date: | 2018–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:afe:wpaper:18/045&r=ict |
| By: | Simplice A. Asongu (Yaoundé/Cameroon); Nicholas M. Odhiambo (Pretoria, South Africa) |
| Abstract: | This study examines if enhancing ICT reduces inequality in 48 countries in Africa for the period 2004-2014. Three inequality indictors are used, namely, the: Gini coefficient, Atkinson index and Palma ratio. The adopted ICT indicators include: mobile phone penetration, internet penetration and fixed broadband subscriptions. The empirical evidence is based on the Generalised Method of Moments. Enhancing internet penetration and fixed broadband subscriptions have a net effect on reducing the Gini coefficient and the Atkinson index, whereas increasing mobile phone penetration and internet penetration reduces the Palma ratio. Policy implications are discussed in the light of challenges to Sustainable Development Goals. |
| Keywords: | ICT; Inclusive development; Africa; Sustainable development |
| JEL: | G20 I10 I32 O40 O55 |
| Date: | 2018–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:agd:wpaper:18/054&r=ict |
| By: | Havranek, Tomas; Zeynalov, Ayaz |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we examine the usefulness of Google Trends data in predicting monthly tourist arrivals and overnight stays in Prague during the period between January 2010 and December 2016. We offer two contributions. First, we analyze whether Google Trends provides significant forecasting improvements over models without search data. Second, we assess whether a high-frequency variable (weekly Google Trends) is more useful for accurate forecasting than a low-frequency variable (monthly tourist arrivals) using Mixed-data sampling (MIDAS). Our results stress the potential of Google Trends to offer more accurate prediction in the context of tourism: we find that Google Trends information, both two months and one week ahead of arrivals, is useful for predicting the actual number of tourist arrivals. The MIDAS forecasting model that employs weekly Google Trends data outperforms models using monthly Google Trends data and models without Google Trends data. |
| Keywords: | Google trends,mixed-frequency data,forecasting,tourism |
| JEL: | C53 L83 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:esprep:187420&r=ict |
| By: | Fogli, Alessandra; Veldkamp, Laura |
| Abstract: | Does the pattern of social connections between individuals matter for macroeconomic outcomes? If so, where do these differences come from and how large are their effects? Using network analysis tools, we explore how different social network structures affect technology diffusion and thereby a country's rate of growth. The correlation between high-diffusion networks and income is strongly positive. But when we use a model to isolate the effect of a change in social networks, the effect can be positive, negative, or zero. The reason is that networks diffuse ideas and disease. Low-diffusion networks have evolved in countries where disease is prevalent because limited connectivity protects residents from epidemics. But a low-diffusion network in a low-disease environment needlessly compromises the diffusion of good ideas. In general, social networks have evolved to fit their economic and epidemiological environment. Trying to change networks in one country to mimic those in a higher-income country may well be counterproductive. |
| Keywords: | Development; disease; economic networks; growth; pathogens; Social Networks; technology diffusion |
| JEL: | E02 I1 O1 O33 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:13312&r=ict |
| By: | KIMOTO Hiroshi; SAWATANI Yuriko; SAITO Naho; IWAMOTO Koichi; TANOUE Yuta; INOUE Yusuka |
| Abstract: | This paper describes the first scientific and basic survey data which can explain the present situation of the development of digital technology for information technology (IT), Internet of Things (IoT), big data, and artificial intelligence (AI) in Japan's fourth industrial revolution. And this paper describes the result of the analysis of the survey study. Big companies are trying to develop new business using digital technology but SME's is still fall behind. The difference of each industrial sector is more clear. If this survey study shall be done every two years, the dynamic survey will be possible, which is the first purpose. |
| Date: | 2018–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:rpdpjp:18019&r=ict |
| By: | Alexander Cuntz |
| Abstract: | The digital transformation imposes both opportunities and risks for creativity and for creative employment, with implications for trends in income levels and the distribution of income. First, we consider skill-biased technological change as a determinant of income and labor market outcomes in the arts. Arguably, the IT revolution has changed the demand for certain skills, with creative occupations being more in demand than general employment. Second, we consider declines in the costs of generating new works and artistic experimentation due to digital technologies, and their effect on the barriers to entry in labor markets. Third, we touch upon the rise of online contract labor in certain creative professions as a determinant of income. Here, online platforms can change creators’ access to work opportunities and it may alter the way income is distributed. We find that wage trends for creative workers in the digital age outperform general trends in the population: based on various data sources and various ways to identify creators, we see creators losing less or even gaining a better income position in relative terms. From a policy perspective, results do not lend support to the idea that creators’ income situation has systematically worsened with the rise of the internet and its intermediaries. Evidence on changing distributions of income is ambiguous as trends differ from one country to the next. |
| JEL: | J24 J28 J31 L82 O15 O33 O34 Z10 |
| Date: | 2018–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lis:liswps:755&r=ict |