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on Information and Communication Technologies |
| By: | Clément Magouyres (Ecole d'Économie de Paris - Paris School of Economics (PSE)); Thierry Mayer (Département d'économie); Clément Mazet (Département d'économie) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we document the presence of “technology-induced” trade in France between 1997 and 2007 and assess its impact on consumer welfare. We use the staggered roll-out of broadband internet to estimate its causal effect on the importing behavior of affected firms. Using an event-study design, we find that broadband expansion increases firm-level imports by around 25%. We further find that the “sub-extensive” margin (number of products and sourcing countries per firm) is the main channel of adjustment and that the effect is larger for capital goods. Finally, we develop a model where firms optimize over their import strategy and which yields a sufficient statistics formula for the quantification of the effects of broadband on consumer welfare. Interpreted within this model, our reduced-form estimates imply that broadband internet reduced the consumer price index by 1.7% and that the import-channel, i.e. the enhanced access to foreign goods that is allowed by broadband, accounts for a quarter of that effect. |
| Keywords: | Internet; Trade; Imports; Consumer welfare |
| JEL: | F14 F15 L23 O33 |
| Date: | 2019–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/4b7tooefh48jlq7oktt0tbn8om&r=all |
| By: | L. M., Madhushree; R., Revathi; Aithal, Sreeramana |
| Abstract: | The impact of Information communication and computation technology (ICCT)is increasing day by day among different communities throughout the world for obtaining information related to many issues, problems, and their solutions. The growth of ICCT has revolutionized in many sectors of the society and contributing to solve problems related to basic needs, advanced wants, and anticipated desires of the people. Information communication and computation technology has great essence and impact on every business & society.This study made an attempt to determine the effect of ICCT on various industrial sectors including primary, secondary, and tertiary levels. In this paper, we have identified ICCT as a most important general-purpose technology due to its abilities to solve fundamental need-based problems and advanced wants and desires-based problems of society. The paper also discusses the impact of ICCT on conceptual and predictive developments on some industrial sectors like Agriculture, Textile, Education, and Banking. Thisreview provides documentation to guide future research and facilitate knowledge growth and creation relating to the impacts of ICCT on various business sectors. A major finding of this review based on analysis is that ICCT is valuable to the overall growth of an industry, but the level and scopes are in need of internal and external influence, including corresponding organizational resources of the firm and its transaction partners, as well as the competitive and macro environment. |
| Keywords: | Information communication and computation technology (ICCT), Education, Banking, Agriculture, Textile, Society. |
| JEL: | M15 |
| Date: | 2019–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:95150&r=all |
| By: | Wei Cui; Nigar Hashimzade |
| Abstract: | In 2018, the European Council and the UK and Spanish governments each proposed to introduce a Digital Services Tax (DST), to be levied on the revenue of large digital platforms from advertising, online intermediation, and/or the transmission of data. We offer a rationalization of the DST as a tax on location-specific rent (LSR). That is, just as many countries already levy royalties on rent from extracting natural resources, one can think of the DST as levied on rent earned by digital platforms from particular locations. We provide stylized illustrations of how platform rent can be assigned to specific locations, even when users from multiple jurisdictions participate. We then elaborate the analogy between the DST and resource royalties, and analyze the DST’s incidence and effect on consumer welfare using a simple model. Finally, we argue that the DST suggests useful directions for redesigning international taxation in the age of labor-replacing AI technology. |
| Keywords: | digital services tax, international taxation, location-specific rent, digital platforms |
| JEL: | H25 K34 M37 M48 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_7737&r=all |
| By: | Ryan Hawthorne; Lukasz Grzybowski |
| Abstract: | We test for the distributional effects of regulation and entry in the mobile telecommunications sector in a highly unequal country, South Africa. Using six waves of a consumer survey of over 134,000 individuals between 2009-2014, we estimate a discrete-choice model allowing for individual-specific price-responsiveness and preferences for network operators. Next, we use a demand and supply equilibrium framework to simulate prices and the distribution of welfare without entry and mobile termination rate regulation. We find that regulation benefits consumers significantly more than entry does, and that high-income consumers and city-dwellers benefit more in terms of increased consumer surplus. |
| Keywords: | mobile telecommunications, competition, entry, discrete choice, inequality |
| JEL: | L13 L40 L50 L96 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_7703&r=all |
| By: | Melia, Elvis |
| Abstract: | In the past two decades, Africa has experienced a wave of mobile telephony and the early stages of internet connectivity. This paper summarises recent empirical research findings on the impact that information and communication technologies (ICTs) have had on jobs in Africa, be it in creating new jobs, destroying old jobs, or changing the quality of existing jobs in levels of productivity, incomes, or working conditions. The paper discusses various channels in which ICTs can impact jobs: In theory, they have the potential to allow for text-based services platforms that can help farmers and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) become more productive or receive better access to market information; mobile money has the potential to allow the most vulnerable workers more independence and security; and the internet could allow women, in particular, to increase their incomes and independence. This literature review examines what rigorous empirical evidence actually exists to corroborate these claims. Most of the studies reviewed do indeed find positive effects of ICTs on jobs (or related variables) in Africa. On the basis of these findings, the paper reviews policy options for those interested in job creation in Sub-Saharan Africa. The paper concludes by highlighting that these positive findings may exist in parallel with negative structural dynamics that are more difficult to measure. Also, the review’s findings - while positive across the board - should be seen as distinct for ICTs in the period of the 2000s and 2010s, and cannot easily be transferred to expect similarly positive effects of the much newer, Fourth Industrial Revolution Technologies (such as machine learning, blockchain technologies, big data analytics, platform economies), which may produce entirely different dynamics. |
| Keywords: | Digitalisierung |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:diedps:32019&r=all |
| By: | Sotiris Blanas; Gino Gancia; Sang Yoon (Tim) Lee |
| Abstract: | We study how various types of machines, namely, information and communication technologies, software, and especially industrial robots, affect the demand for workers of different education, age, and gender. We do so by exploiting differences in the composition of workers across countries, industries and time. Our dataset comprises 10 high-income countries and 30 industries, which span roughly their entire economies, with annual observations over the period 1982–2005. The results suggest that software and robots reduced the demand for low and medium-skill workers, the young, and women — especially in manufacturing industries; but raised the demand for high-skill workers, older workers and men —especially in service industries. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that automation technologies, contrary to other types of capital, replace humans performing routine tasks. We also find evidence for some types of workers, especially women, having shifted away from such tasks. |
| Keywords: | automation, robots, employment, Labor demand, labor income share |
| JEL: | J21 J23 O33 |
| Date: | 2019–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bge:wpaper:1105&r=all |
| By: | Asongu, Simplice A; Odhiambo, Nicholas M |
| Abstract: | The research assesses how information and communication technology (ICT) modulates the effect of foreign direct investment (FDI) on economic growth dynamics in 25 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa for the period 1980-2014. The employed economic growth dynamics areGross Domestic Product (GDP) growth, real GDP and GDP per capita while ICT is measured by mobile phone penetration and internet penetration. The empirical evidence is based on the Generalised Method of Moments. The study finds that both internet penetration and mobile phone penetration overwhelmingly modulate FDI to induce overall positive net effects on all three economic growth dynamics. Moreover, the positive net effects are consistently more apparent in internet-centric regressions compared to ???mobile phone???-oriented specifications. In the light of negative interactive effects, net effects are decomposed to provide thresholds at which ICT policy variables should be complemented with other policy initiatives in order to engender favorable outcomes on economic growth dynamics. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed. |
| Keywords: | Economic Output; Foreign Investment; Information Technology; Sub-Saharan |
| Date: | 2019–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uza:wpaper:25593&r=all |
| By: | Michael Batu (Department of Economics, University of Windsor); Zichun Zhao (Department of Economics, University of Windsor) |
| Abstract: | We provide empirical evidence on the negative relationship between intense solar activity and GDP in OECD countries. Among the different sectors, we find that the information and communication sector is the most adversely affected by space weather. |
| Keywords: | Solar activity, economic costs, disasters |
| JEL: | D24 O49 Q54 |
| Date: | 2019–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wis:wpaper:1903&r=all |
| By: | Dilger, Alexander; Klus, Milan F. |
| Abstract: | Digitalisation has opened up new opportunities for the dissemination of information. That is why many academic journals have started introducing online services since the early 1990s. Previous studies suggest that online availability and free access to articles are positively connected to the number of citations. However, little is known about the relative impact of the introduction of online services at the journal level and what provides a long-term competitive advantage in times of digital change. Based on panel data from SSCI-listed management journals from 1989 to 2016, we examine which journals have pioneered the digital field, to what extent first-mover advantages can be identified, and which journal characteristics are associated with citation-based performance indicators. Our results show that lower-ranked journals were the first to introduce digital services and were beneficiaries of the digital age. Furthermore, we find a significant connection between the international composition of author teams and performance indicators. Our analysis of the relationship between online availability as well as open access and performance contradicts previous studies as we find that significant correlations diminish when adequately controlling for journal-level effects. |
| JEL: | I23 L82 L86 M21 O33 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:umiodp:62019&r=all |
| By: | David R. Agrawal; David E. Wildasin |
| Abstract: | Technological innovations facilitating e-commerce have well-documented effects on consumer behavior and firm organization in the retail sector, but the effects of these new transaction technologies on fiscal systems remain unknown. By extending models of commodity tax competition to include urban spatial structure (agglomeration) and online commerce, one can analyze strategic tax-policy interactions among neighboring localities. Consumers buy different types of commodities, sold either by traditional or by online vendors. When the cost of online shopping falls, we show that equilibrium tax rates and revenues increase in small jurisdictions and decrease in large jurisdictions with retail shopping centers. Policy commentators warn that e-commerce erodes tax revenue - true enough for some localities - but, more accurately, changing transaction costs can generate entirely new commercial and fiscal equilibria that ultimately “redistribute” tax revenues from localities with concentrations of traditional vendors toward other, typically smaller, localities. |
| Keywords: | sales tax, retail shopping, agglomeration, e-commerce, fiscal competition |
| JEL: | H25 H71 H73 L81 R50 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_7742&r=all |