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on Information and Communication Technologies |
| By: | Ran Zhuo; Bradley Huffaker; kc claffy; Shane Greenstein |
| Abstract: | The Internet comprises thousands of independently operated networks, where bilaterally negotiated interconnection agreements determine the flow of data between networks. The European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) imposes strict restrictions on processing and sharing of personal data of EU residents. Both contemporary news reports and simple bilateral bargaining theory predict reduction in data usage at the application layer would negatively impact incentives for negotiating interconnection agreements at the internet layer due to reduced bargaining power of European networks and increased bargaining frictions. Considerable empirical evidence at the application layer confirms this prediction. Using a large sample of interconnection agreements between networks around the world in 2015–2019, we empirically investigate the impact of the GDPR on interconnection behavior of network operators in the European Economic Area (EEA) compared to network operators in non-EEA OECD countries. All evidence estimates precisely zero effects across multiple measures: the number of observed agreements per network, the inferred agreement types, and the number of observed IP-address-level interconnection points per agreement. We also find economically small effects of the GDPR on the entry and the observed number of customers of networks. We conclude that the short-run costs for GDPR are concentrated at the application layer. |
| JEL: | L00 L51 L86 |
| Date: | 2019–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:26481&r=all |
| By: | Caroline Paunov (OECD); Dominique Guellec (OECD); Nevine El-Mallakh (Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne); Sandra Planes-Satorra (OECD); Lukas Nüse (Bertelsmann Foundation) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates how digital technologies have shaped the concentration of inventive activity in cities across 30 OECD countries. It finds that patenting is highly concentrated: from 2010 to 2014, 10% of cities accounted for 64% of patent applications to the European Patent Office, with the top five (Tokyo, Seoul, San Francisco, Higashiosaka and Paris) representing 21.8% of applications. The share of the top cities in total patenting increased modestly from 1995 to 2014. Digital technology patent applications are more concentrated in top cities than applications in other technology fields. In the United States, which has led digital technology deployment, the concentration of patent applications in top cities increased more than in Japan and Europe over the two decades. Econometric results confirm that digital technology relates positively to patenting activities in cities and that it benefits top cities, in particular, thereby strengthening the concentration of innovation in these cities. |
| Keywords: | cities, digital technologies, geography of innovation, innovation, local knowledge spillovers, OECD countries, patenting |
| JEL: | R12 O31 O34 |
| Date: | 2019–12–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:stiaac:85-en&r=all |
| By: | Elena Argentesi; Paolo Buccirossi; Emilio Calvano; Tomaso Duso; Alessia Marrazzo; Salvatore Nava |
| Abstract: | This paper presents a broad retrospective evaluation of mergers and merger decisions in the digital sector. We first discuss the most crucial features of digital markets such as network effects, multi-sidedness, big data, and rapid innovation that create important challenges for competition policy. We show that these features have been key determinants of the theories of harm in major merger cases in the past few years. We then analyse the characteristics of almost 300 acquisitions carried out by three major digital companies –Amazon, Facebook, and Google – between 2008 and 2018. We cluster target companies on their area of economic activity and show that they span a wide range of economic sectors. In most cases, their products and services appear to be complementary to those supplied by the acquirers. Moreover, target companies seem to be particularly young, being four-years-old or younger in nearly 60% of cases at the time of the acquisition. Finally, we examine two important merger cases, Facebook/Instagram and Google/Waze, providing a systematic assessment of the theories of harm considered by the UK competition authorities as well as evidence on the evolution of the market after the transactions were approved. We discuss whether the CAs performed complete and careful analyses to foresee the competitive consequences of the investigated mergers and whether a more effective merger control regime can be achieved within the current legal framework. |
| Keywords: | Digital Markets, Mergers, Network Effects, Big Data, Platforms, Ex-post, Antitrust |
| JEL: | L4 K21 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp1836&r=all |
| By: | David C. Maré; Arthur Grimes (Motu Economic and Public Policy Research); Richard Fabling (Independent researcher) |
| Abstract: | We examine whether ultra-fast broadband (UFB) has selective complementarities with certain types of labour. Using longitudinal data on New Zealand firms’ internet connection type (UFB versus other forms of broadband) we find that, following UFB adoption by a firm, the wages of certain skilled incumbent employees rise. This is particularly so for males with STEM qualifications, plus males with university level qualifications (and possibly Masters level female graduates) without STEM qualifications. Wages of male employees without qualifications and of female employees with both lower level and no qualifications tend to fall relative to those in firms that do not adopt UFB. These results are consistent with the existence of skill-biased technical change. More puzzling is why these skill-biased changes have differential effects for incumbent male versus female workers. |
| Keywords: | Broadband, ultra-fast, wages, skill-biased technical change, gender wage gap |
| JEL: | D22 H54 J24 O33 |
| Date: | 2019–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mtu:wpaper:19_23&r=all |
| By: | Giuditta De Prato (European Commission - JRC); Montserrat Lopez Cobo (European Commission - JRC); Sofia Samoili (European Commission - JRC); Riccardo Righi (European Commission - JRC); Miguel Vazquez Prada Baillet (European Commission - JRC); Melisande Cardona (European Commission - JRC) |
| Abstract: | The Techno-Economics Segment (TES) analytical approach aims to offer a timely representation of an integrated and very dynamic technological domain not captured by official statistics or standard classifications. Domains of that type, such as photonics and artificial intelligence (AI), are rapidly evolving and expected to play a key role in the digital transformation, enabling further developments. They are therefore policy relevant and it is important to have available a methodology and tools suitable to map their geographic presence, technological development, economic impact, and overall evolution. The TES approach was developed by the JRC. It provides quantitative analyses in a micro-based perspective. AI has become an area of strategic importance with potential to be a key driver of economic development. The Commission announced in April 2018 a European strategy on AI in its communication "Artificial Intelligence for Europe", COM(2018)237, and in December a Coordinated Action Plan, COM(2018)795. In order to provide quantitative evidences for monitoring AI technologies in the worldwide economies, the TES approach is applied to AI in the present study. The general aim of this work is to provide an analysis of the AI techno-economic complex system, addressing the following three fundamental research questions: (i) Which are the economic players involved in the research and development as well as in the production and commercialisation of AI goods and services? And where are they located? (ii) Which specific technological areas (under the large umbrella of AI) have these players been working at? (iii) How is the network resulting from their collaboration shaped and what collaborations have they been developing? This report addresses these research questions throughout its different sections, providing both an overview of the AI landscape and a deep understanding of the structure of the socio-economic system, offering useful insights for possible policy initiatives. This is even more relevant and challenging as the considered technologies are consolidating and introducing deep changes in the economy and the society. From this perspective, the goal of this report is to draw a detailed map of the considered ecosystem, and to analyse it in a multidimensional way, while keeping the policy perspective in mind. The period considered in our analysis covers from 2009 to 2018. We detected close to 58,000 relevant documents and, identified 34,000 players worldwide involved in AI-related economic processes. We collected and processed information regarding these players to set up a basis from which the exploration of the ecosystem can take multiple directions depending on the targeted objective. In this report, we present indicators regarding three dimensions of analysis: (i) the worldwide landscape overview, (ii) the involvement of players in specific AI technological sub-domains, and (iii) the activities and the collaborations in AI R&D processes. These are just some of the dimensions that can be investigated with the TES approach. We are currently including and analysing additional ones. |
| Keywords: | TES, TECHNO ECONOMIC SEGMENT, AI, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, PREDICT, ICT R&D, DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION , DIGITAL ECONOMY, INNOVATION |
| Date: | 2019–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc118071&r=all |
| By: | M. Keith Chen; Kareem Haggag; Devin G. Pope; Ryne Rohla |
| Abstract: | Equal access to voting is a core feature of democratic government. Using data from millions of smartphone users, we quantify a racial disparity in voting wait times across a nationwide sample of polling places during the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Relative to entirely-white neighborhoods, residents of entirely-black neighborhoods waited 29% longer to vote and were 74% more likely to spend more than 30 minutes at their polling place. This disparity holds when comparing predominantly white and black polling places within the same states and counties, and survives numerous robustness and placebo tests. We shed light on the mechanism for these results and discuss how geospatial data can be an effective tool to both measure and monitor these disparities going forward. |
| JEL: | D72 |
| Date: | 2019–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:26487&r=all |
| By: | Knut Blind; Mirko Bohm |
| Abstract: | This report has been developed in the framework of the 2017 Communication of the European Commission ‘Setting out the EU approach to Standard Essential Patents’ (COM(2017) 712 final). In this Communication there is a direct commitment that 'The Commission will work with stakeholders, open source communities and SDOs for successful interaction between open source and standardisation, by means of studies and analyses'. Standards and open source development are both processes widely adopted in the ICT industry to develop innovative technologies and drive their adoption in the market. Innovators and policy makers assume that a closer collaboration between standards and open source software development would be mutually beneficial. The interaction between the two is however not yet fully understood, especially with regard to how the intellectual property regimes applied by these organisations influence their ability and motivation to cooperate. This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the interaction between standard development organisations (SDOs) and open source software (OSS) communities. The analysis is based on 20 case studies, a survey of stakeholders involved in SDOs and OSS communities, an expert workshop, and a comprehensive review of the literature. |
| Keywords: | Open source software development, standard development organization, intellectual property rights, intellectual property policies, FRAND licensing |
| Date: | 2019–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc117836&r=all |
| By: | Alhassan A-W Karakara (University of Cape Coast, Ghana); Evans S. Osabuohien (CEPDeR, Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria) |
| Abstract: | Education is said to be a basic human right, and central to unlocking human capabilities. However, Sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) has the highest number of children out of school and learning disadvantages. Most studies on child vulnerability concentrate on disaster, disability and HIV effects on children. Thus, this study investigates the likelihood of a child being educationally disadvantaged or risk school dropout. Ghana Demographic and Health Survey (GDHS) data for 2014 with binary and multinomial logistic regressions are used to determine the likelihood of a child being educationally disadvantaged. The findings reveal disparity in wealth distribution in Ghana. Wealth of family is a determinant of child success in education and urban household children are less likely to be disadvantaged in learning outcomes. Households’ access to ICTs enhances child learning at home and; hence, reduces the risk of a child being educationally disadvantaged. Policy implications and suggestions for further studies are discussed in the paper. |
| Keywords: | Child educational disadvantage; Ghana; Households; ICTs; Wealth disparity |
| JEL: | D1 I21 |
| Date: | 2019–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:agd:wpaper:19/088&r=all |
| By: | Foote, Christopher L. (Federal Reserve Bank of Boston); Loewenstein, Lara (Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland); Willen, Paul S. (Federal Reserve Bank of Boston) |
| Abstract: | The application of information technology to finance, or “fintech,” is expected to revolutionize many aspects of borrowing and lending in the future, but technology has been reshaping consumer and mortgage lending for many years. During the 1990s, computerization allowed mortgage lenders to reduce loan-processing times and largely replace human-based assessments of credit risk with default predictions generated by sophisticated empirical models. Debt-to-income ratios at origination add little to the predictive power of these models, so the new automated underwriting systems allowed higher debt-to-income ratios than previous underwriting guidelines would have allowed. In this way, technology brought about an exogenous change in lending standards that was especially relevant for borrowers with low current incomes relative to their expected future incomes—in particular, young college graduates. By contrast, the data suggest that the credit expansion during the 2000s housing boom was an endogenous response to widespread expectations of higher future house prices, as average mortgage sizes rose for borrowers across the entire income distribution. |
| Keywords: | mortgage underwriting; housing cycle; technological change; credit boom |
| JEL: | C55 D53 G21 L85 R21 R31 |
| Date: | 2019–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedbwp:19-11&r=all |
| By: | Ali-Yrkkö, Jyrki; Pajarinen, Mika; Ylhäinen, Ilkka |
| Abstract: | Abstract In recent years, business angels have invested in a few hundred Finnish firms annually. The target firms are mainly young and small: 75% of them employ fewer than 10 workers and are less than 8 years old. These firms are most likely to be found in the ICT and professional service industries and manufacturing. Although many angel-funded firms have faster employment growth compared to matched nonfunded firms, the average growth rates do not significantly differ when we control for receiving public innovation funding and other firm characteristics. As many as 75% of the firms funded by business angels have also received public innovation funding in some phase, and 57% have received it before angel funding. However, no robust indication was found that combining these two sources of funds would give an extra boost to growth. |
| Keywords: | Business angels, Innovation subsidies, R&D, Firm growth |
| JEL: | D22 G24 G30 L53 O31 |
| Date: | 2019–12–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rif:report:97&r=all |
| By: | Setiawan, Budi |
| Abstract: | As a matter of fact, business world realities are like a wilderness. All existing business person must have a good adaptation in the business dynamic environment to successfully survive and gain a competitive advantage in this ecosystem. Those who will survive are those who smartly and nimble facing all the dynamics business challenges, optimizing all their strength to capture the opportunities and reducing the risk. Those who succeed will stay alive. The four literature discussed below were trying to reveal the phenomena about business and strategic agility, from the different point of view and approachment. I am going to describing and elaborating each of the articles and relate the relevance of the discussion progressively. Although each of these four article written by the expertise in the relevant discipline, it still an opportunities to find out the lack of the clearer discussion for further improvement. |
| Date: | 2018–04–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:inarxi:x4kwj&r=all |