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on Information and Communication Technologies |
| By: | Davide Mazzoni (Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei) |
| Abstract: | Innovative business models supported by digital technologies, together with the widening connectivity and data collection, are already giving a big contribution in fostering the access to electricity and clean cooking in Sub-Saharan Africa. This paper gives an overview on the actual state of energy access in Sub-Saharan Africa and the current technologies used to provide it, followed by a description of the key trends and drivers of the ongoing African digital transformation. A deep analysis of the Pay-as-you-go business model in the off-grid solar sector will shed light on how this transformation started some years ago and the way it is affecting society in many ways. Strengths and opportunities — as well as weaknesses and risks of the model — are provided through a screening of the most representative business experiences in East and West Africa, financial aspects and market analysis. The perspective of both companies and end-users have been considered here. The last section gives recommendations to policy-makers on how to ride the wave of digitalization to foster the access to clean and reliable energy, by acting on the electrification planning, regulations, business environment, distribution channels and mobile money environment. |
| Keywords: | Energy Access, Digitalization, PAYGO, Business Models, Africa, Digital Transformation |
| JEL: | O13 O33 O55 M13 Q40 Q48 |
| Date: | 2019–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2019.02&r=all |
| By: | Niros, Meletios; Samanta, Irene; Pollalis, Yannis; Niros, Angelica |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this research is to explore the antecedents and effects of mobile app satisfaction. A survey conducted using a “positivism” approach, in which 450 app users participated to answer the research instrument. Emotional Attachment and App design proved to be the most influential antecedents of app satisfaction, whereas Safety of personal data & user identification were important as well. However, app satisfaction has no effect on Intention to upgrade to premium service, showing that the basic revenue stream still derives from advertising and sponsorships. On the other hand, Word of Mouth communication is stimulated by app user satisfaction. This finding shows that satisfaction is the vehicle to spread the value of the app to other users cheaper and with more credibility. This research provides certain implications to digital marketing practitioners and academics in order to make decisions on building strong service brands using a mobile app as a distribution channel. |
| Keywords: | App Satisfaction, Digital Marketing, Consumer Behaviour, Electronic Commerce |
| JEL: | L81 M31 |
| Date: | 2019–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:92772&r=all |
| By: | Morgan, Peter J. (Asian Development Bank Institute); Trinh, Long Q. (Asian Development Bank Institute) |
| Abstract: | A growing literature has examined the role of financial literacy in an individual’s income, saving behavior and the use of various financial products. However, so far, no one has examined the relationship between financial literacy and the awareness and adoption of financial technology (fintech) products, i.e., financial products provided via internet-based and mobile-based platforms. This paper examines this relationship in a developing country, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR). We use information collected in the Lao PDR using the standardized questionnaire developed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development International Network on Financial Education (OECD/INFE) to calculate our financial literacy. We find that a higher level of financial literacy has strong and positive effects on an individual’s awareness of fintech products. This result still holds when we use a set of instrumental variables for the financial literacy variable. However, there is insufficient data to find a significant relationship between financial literacy and the use of fintech products. |
| Keywords: | financial literacy; financial behavior; fintech; awareness of fintech; household saving; Lao PDR |
| JEL: | D14 G11 J26 |
| Date: | 2019–03–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbiwp:0933&r=all |
| By: | Radanliev, Petar; De Roure, David; R.C. Nurse, Jason; Burnap, Pete; Anthi, Eirini; Ani, Uchenna; Maddox, La’Treall; Santos, Omar; Mantilla Montalvo, Rafael |
| Abstract: | Definition of Internet of Things (IoT) Cyber Risk – Discussion on a Transformation Roadmap for Standardization of Regulations, Risk Maturity, Strategy Design and Impact Assessment |
| Keywords: | Internet of Things; Micro Mart model; Goal-Oriented Approach; transformation roadmap; Cyber risk regulations; empirical analysis; cyber risk self-assessment; cyber risk target state |
| JEL: | L0 L5 L50 L52 L53 O2 O21 O3 O31 O32 O33 O38 |
| Date: | 2019–03–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:92569&r=all |
| By: | Kuwahara, Satoshi (Asian Development Bank Institute); Yoshino, Naoyuki (Asian Development Bank Institute); Sagara, Megumi (Asian Development Bank Institute); Taghizadeh-Hesary, Farhad (Asian Development Bank Institute) |
| Abstract: | The credit risk database (CRD) makes it possible to mitigate the problem of information asymmetry between small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and financial institutions and contributes to improving SMEs’ access to finance by collecting a large number of financial statements through the mechanism of SME finances and establishing a robust statistical model. We use the CRD in Japan, confirm the situation in Japan, and highlight the CRD’s contribution to evaluating the creditworthiness of SMEs. We also explain how to establish the CRD as a financial infrastructure, while indicating that the CRD and the scoring model based on it have maintained their quality owing to their operating system. We hope our experience contributes to the introduction of a statistical credit risk database composed of a large number of anonymous financial statement data in other countries and that the CRD helps to improve SMEs’ access to finance as a financial infrastructure. |
| Keywords: | credit risk database; CRD creditworthiness; SMEs in Japan |
| JEL: | G21 G28 G32 |
| Date: | 2019–02–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbiwp:0924&r=all |
| By: | Kerschbamer, Rudolf (University of Innsbruck); Neururer, Daniel (University of Innsbruck); Sutter, Matthias (Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods) |
| Abstract: | Credence goods markets are characterized by pronounced informational asymmetries between consumers and expert sellers. As a consequence, consumers are often exploited and market efficiency is threatened. However, in the digital age, it has become easy and cheap for consumers to self-diagnose their needs using specialized webpages or to access other consumers' reviews on social media platforms in search for trustworthy sellers. We present a natural field experiment that examines the causal effect of information acquisition from new media on the level of sellers' price charges for computer repairs. We find that even a correct self-diagnosis of a consumer about the appropriate repair does not reduce prices, and that an incorrect diagnosis more than doubles them. Internet ratings of repair shops are a good predictor of prices. However, the predictive valued of reviews depends on whether they are judged as reliable or not. For reviews recommended by the platform Yelp we find that good ratings are associated with lower prices and bad ratings with higher prices, while non-recommended reviews have a clearly misleading effect, because non-recommended positive ratings increase the price. |
| Keywords: | credence goods, fraud, information acquisition, internet, field experiment |
| JEL: | C93 D82 |
| Date: | 2019–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp12184&r=all |
| By: | Ramadorai, Tarun; Uettwiller, Antoine; Walther, Ansgar |
| Abstract: | We scrape a comprehensive set of US firms' privacy policies to facilitate research on the supply of data privacy. We analyze these data with the help of expert legal evaluations, and also acquire data on firms' web tracking activities. We find considerable and systematic variation in privacy policies along multiple dimensions including ease of access, length, readability, and quality, both within and between industries. Motivated by a simple theory of big data acquisition and usage, we analyze the relationship between firm size, knowledge capital intensity, and privacy supply. We find that large firms with intermediate data intensity have longer, legally watertight policies, but are more likely to share user data with third parties. |
| Keywords: | data markets; privacy; third-party sharing; web tracking |
| JEL: | D8 K2 L1 |
| Date: | 2019–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:13588&r=all |
| By: | Johannes Boehm (Département d'économie); Jan Sonntag (Département d'économie) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the prevalence of vertical market foreclosure using a novel dataset on U.S. and international buyer-seller relationships, and across a large range of industries. We find that relationships are more likely to break when suppliers vertically integrate with one of the buyers’ competitors than when they vertically integrate with an unrelated firm. This relationship holds also, among other things, when conditioning on mergers that follow exogenous downward pressure on the supplier’s stock prices, suggesting that reverse causality is unlikely to explain the result. In contrast, the relationship vanishes when using rumored or announced but not completed integration events. Firms experience a substantial drop in sales when one of their suppliers integrates with one of their competitors. This sales drop is mitigated if the firm has alternative suppliers in place. |
| Keywords: | Mergers and acquisitions; Market foreclosure; Vertical integration; Production networks |
| JEL: | L14 L42 |
| Date: | 2018–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spo:wpecon:info:hdl:2441/44gofgf80399mp5fq5q50vv5t6&r=all |
| By: | Marshall Reinsdorf (International Monetary Fund); Paul Schreyer (OECD) |
| Abstract: | The effect on the household consumption price index from possible sources of error in capturing digital products depends on the weight of the affected products. To calculate upper bounds for this effect, we apply weights based on the average structure of household consumption in OECD countries to a maximum plausible overstatement of price change for each affected or potentially affected product. The products account for about 35% of household expenditure in 2005, declining to 32% in 2015. The upper bound simulation effect on the growth rate of the consumption deflator is somewhat less than –0.6 percentage points in 2015 – large enough to improve the picture of GDP and productivity growth in advanced economies. However, this would not overturn the conclusion that productivity growth has slowed substantially compared over the past decades. |
| Keywords: | cost of living index, digital replacements, digitalised economy, GDP growth, Inflation, productivity |
| JEL: | C43 D11 D60 E01 E31 O47 |
| Date: | 2019–02–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:stdaaa:2019/01-en&r=all |