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on Information and Communication Technologies |
| By: | Vidushi Pandey (Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode) |
| Abstract: | Use of ICT for various development agendas is quite a prevalent phenomenon. One such agenda is use of ICT for improving rural education in developing nations. Various efforts have been made in this field. Initially ICT was primarily treated as a subject in the curriculum. The unique capabilities of ICT tools ave been identified and using it to teach other subjects has gained focus over the years. However, for effective use of ICTs as teaching tools, the role of educators still remains of utmost importance. Educator’s belief in ICT, their comfort level and level of motivation has a significant impact on the success of such initiatives. This paper analyzes two cases in which ICT was used to facilitate better learning process in rural education. The analysis provides deeper understanding of ICT use in education and need for focus on teacher’s training.Length: 3 pages |
| Date: | 2021–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iik:wpaper:417&r= |
| By: | Daniel Ershov; Juan S. Morales |
| Abstract: | We study Facebook’s and Twitter’s policy interventions which aimed to reduce the spread of misinformation during the 2020 US election. Facebook changed its news feed algorithm to reduce the visibility of content, while Twitter changed its user interface, nudging users to be thoughtful about sharing content. Using data on tweets and Facebook posts published by news media outlets, we show both policies significantly reduced news sharing, but the reductions varied heterogeneously by outlets’ factualness and political slant. On Facebook, content sharing fell relatively more for low-factualness outlets. On Twitter, content sharing fell relatively more for left-wing and high-factualness outlets. |
| Keywords: | social media, news sharing, media slant, fake news, misinformation. |
| JEL: | D72 L82 L86 O33 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cca:wpaper:651&r= |
| By: | Abdi, Farshid; Kormanyos, Emily; Pelizzon, Loriana; Getmansky, Mila; Simon, Zorka |
| Abstract: | We focus on the role of social media as a high-frequency, unfiltered mass information transmission channel and how its use for government communication affects the aggregate stock markets. To measure this effect, we concentrate on one of the most prominent Twitter users, the 45th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump. We analyze around 1,400 of his tweets related to the US economy and classify them by topic and textual sentiment using machine learning algorithms. We investigate whether the tweets contain relevant information for financial markets, i.e. whether they affect market returns, volatility, and trading volumes. Using high-frequency data, we find that Trump's tweets are most often a reaction to pre-existing market trends and therefore do not provide material new information that would influence prices or trading. We show that past market information can help predict Trump's decision to tweet about the economy. |
| Keywords: | Market efficiency,Social media,Twitter,High-frequency event study,Machine learning,ETFs |
| JEL: | G10 G14 C58 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:safewp:314&r= |
| By: | Bailey, Michael; Johnston, Drew; Koenen, Martin; Kuchler, Theresa; Russel, Dominic; Ströbel, Johannes |
| Abstract: | We explore how social network exposure to COVID-19 cases shapes individuals' social distancing behavior during the early months of the ongoing pandemic. We work with de-identified data from Facebook to show that U.S. users whose friends live in areas with worse coronavirus outbreaks reduce their mobility more than otherwise similar users whose friends live in areas with smaller outbreaks. The effects are quantitatively large: a one standard deviation increase in friend-exposure to COVID-19 cases early in the pandemic results in a 1.2 percentage point increase in the probability that an individual stays home on a given day. As the pandemic progresses, changes in friend-exposure drive changes in social distancing behavior. Given the evolving nature and geography of the pandemic --- and hence friend-exposure --- these results rule out many alternative explanations for the observed relationships. We also analyze data on public posts and membership in groups advocating to "reopen" the economy to show that our findings can be explained by friend-exposure raising awareness about the risks of the disease and inducing individuals to participate in mitigating public health behavior. |
| Keywords: | COVID-19; peer effects; Social distancing; Social Networks |
| JEL: | I0 |
| Date: | 2020–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:15593&r= |
| By: | Bofinger, Peter; Haas, Thomas |
| Abstract: | The discussion about central bank digital currencies (CBDC) has gained an impressive momentum. So far, however, the main focus has been on the macroeconomic implications of CBDCs and the narrow perspective of developing a digital substitute for cash. This paper adds a microeconomic dimension of CBDC to the discussion. We provide an overview of the existing payment ecosystem and derive a systemic taxonomy of CBDCs that distinguishes between new payment objects and new payment systems. Using our systemic taxonomy, we are able to categorize different CBDC proposals. In order to discuss and evaluate the different CBDC design options, we develop two criteria: allocative efficiency, i.e. whether a market failure can be diagnosed that justifies a government intervention, and attractiveness for users, i.e. whether CBDC proposals constitute attractive alternatives for users compared to existing payment objects and payment systems. Our analysis shows that there is no justification for digital cash substitutes from the point of view of allocative efficiency and the user perspective. Instead, our analysis opens the perspective for a retail payment system organized or orchestrated by the central bank without a new, independent payment object. |
| Keywords: | Central bank digital currency; central banks; international payments; Payment systems |
| JEL: | E42 E44 E52 E58 G21 G28 |
| Date: | 2020–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:15489&r= |
| By: | Steve J. Bickley; Alison Macintyre; Benno Torgler |
| Abstract: | AI and Big Data provide opportunities and challenges with respect to how we achieve safety in livable smart cities. In this contribution, we look at set of aspects that are important at the city level; namely, how urban analytics and digital technologies can be used; how crime safety is influenced by predictive policing; how city planning and urban development can use real- time data; how complexity is connected to traffic safety; how AI offers opportunities for public health; and what are the societal implications of using, applying, or implementing new technologies. A core argument of the paper is the significance of acknowledging the ‘human factor’ when using smart technologies to design a safe and livable smart city. |
| Keywords: | Artificial Intelligence; Big Data; Smart City; Sustainability; Human Factors |
| Date: | 2021–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cra:wpaper:2021-17&r= |
| By: | Juhász, Réka; Squicciarini, Mara; Voigtländer, Nico |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the future of remote work by drawing parallels between two contexts: The move from home to factory-based production during the Industrial Revolution and the shift to work from home today. Both are characterized by a similar trade-off: the potential productivity advantage of the new working arrangement made possible by technology (mechanization or ICT), versus organizational barriers such as coordinating workers. Using contemporary data, we show that organizational barriers seem to be present today. Without further technological or organizational innovations, remote work may not be here to stay just yet. |
| JEL: | F63 O14 |
| Date: | 2020–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:15578&r= |
| By: | Loretta J. Mester |
| Abstract: | It is now clear that the adverse effects of the pandemic have not been evenly distributed and there are wide disparities in the recovery across business sectors, geographic areas of the country, and demographic groups. The burdens of the pandemic have been borne by many of the most vulnerable in our economy: lower-income and minority workers and communities; those who do not have the opportunity to work from home; those who don’t have access to reliable telecommunications and internet services or to adequate healthcare; and the smallest of small businesses. Since last spring, Blacks and Hispanics have been faring less well in the job market than whites, and those without a bachelor’s degree have made less progress than those with a bachelor’s degree. Rehiring by employers has been considerably slower for low-wage workers than for high-wage workers, whose employment level has now returned to its pre-pandemic level. Among workers in the prime working ages of 25 to 54, the labor force participation rate of women has recovered less than that of men, because the need to provide childcare for pre-school children or those being schooled remotely is disproportionately affecting women’s ability to remain in the workforce or work their usual number of hours. |
| Date: | 2021–02–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedcsp:91560&r= |
| By: | Simplice A. Asongu (Yaounde, Cameroon); Nicholas M. Odhiambo (Pretoria, South Africa) |
| Abstract: | This study complements the extant literature by assessing how enhancing supply factors of mobile technologies affect mobile money innovations for financial inclusion in developing countries. The mobile money innovation outcome variables are: mobile money accounts, the mobile phone used to send money and the mobile phone used to receive money. The mobile technology supply factors are: unique mobile subscription rate, mobile connectivity performance, mobile connectivity coverage and telecommunications (telecom) sector regulation. The empirical evidence is based on quadratic Tobit regressions and the following findings are established. There are Kuznets or inverted shaped nexuses between three of the four supply factors and mobile money innovations from which thresholds for complementary policies are provided as follows: (i) Unique adults’ mobile subscription rates of 128.500%, 121.500% and 77.750% for mobile money accounts, the mobile used to send money and the mobile used to receive money, respectively; (ii) the average share of the population covered by 2G, 3G and 4G mobile data networks of 61.250% and 51.833% for the mobile used to send money and the mobile used to receive money, respectively; and (iii) a telecom sector regulation index of 0.409, 0.283 and 0.283 for mobile money accounts, the mobile phone used to send money and the mobile phone used to receive money, respectively. Some complementary policies are discussed, because at the attendant thresholds, the engaged supply factors of mobile money technologies become necessary, but not sufficient conditions of mobile money innovations for financial inclusion. |
| Keywords: | Mobile money; technology diffusion; financial inclusion; inclusive innovation |
| JEL: | D10 D14 D31 D60 O30 |
| Date: | 2021–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:exs:wpaper:21/024&r= |
| By: | Simplice A. Asongu (Yaounde, Cameroon); Nicholas M. Odhiambo (Pretoria, South Africa) |
| Abstract: | This study complements the extant literature by assessing how enhancing supply factors of mobile technologies affect mobile money innovations for financial inclusion in developing countries. The mobile money innovation outcome variables are: mobile money accounts, the mobile phone used to send money and the mobile phone used to receive money. The mobile technology supply factors are: unique mobile subscription rate, mobile connectivity performance, mobile connectivity coverage and telecommunications (telecom) sector regulation. The empirical evidence is based on quadratic Tobit regressions and the following findings are established. There are Kuznets or inverted shaped nexuses between three of the four supply factors and mobile money innovations from which thresholds for complementary policies are provided as follows: (i) Unique adults’ mobile subscription rates of 128.500%, 121.500% and 77.750% for mobile money accounts, the mobile used to send money and the mobile used to receive money, respectively; (ii) the average share of the population covered by 2G, 3G and 4G mobile data networks of 61.250% and 51.833% for the mobile used to send money and the mobile used to receive money, respectively; and (iii) a telecom sector regulation index of 0.409, 0.283 and 0.283 for mobile money accounts, the mobile phone used to send money and the mobile phone used to receive money, respectively. Some complementary policies are discussed, because at the attendant thresholds, the engaged supply factors of mobile money technologies become necessary, but not sufficient conditions of mobile money innovations for financial inclusion. |
| Keywords: | Mobile money; technology diffusion; financial inclusion; inclusive innovation |
| JEL: | D10 D14 D31 D60 O30 |
| Date: | 2021–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:agd:wpaper:21/024&r= |
| By: | Lomax, Nik; Loukides, Grigorios |
| Abstract: | Recent developments in information technology allow the collection of massive amounts of data about individuals. These data capture a multitude of activities, characteristics, and aspects of the life of individuals, ranging from demographic, to financial and to health information. The use of the collected data is a valuable source for analyses, ranging from answering statistical (aggregate) queries to building statistical models for prediction and classification. However, there are considerable concerns regarding violations of personal privacy and misuse of the collected data. This paper provides an overview of methodological developments in the area of privacy-preserving data publishing, focusing on data anonymization and statistical disclosure control methods. |
| Date: | 2021–05–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:2fvj7&r= |
| By: | Bown, Chad P. |
| Abstract: | The US-China trade war forced a reluctant semiconductor industry into someone else's fight, a very different position from its leading role in the 1980s trade conflict with Japan. This paper describes how the political economy of the global semiconductor industry has evolved since the 1980s. That includes both a shift in the business model behind how semiconductors go from conception to a finished product, as well as the geographic reorientation toward Asia of demand and manufactured supply. It uses that lens to explain how, during the modern conflict with China, US policymakers turned to a legally complex set of export restrictions targeting the semiconductor supply chain in the attempt to safeguard critical infrastructure in the telecommunications sector. The potentially far-reaching tactics included weaponization of exports by relatively small but highly specialized American software service and equipment providers in order to constrain Huawei, a Fortune Global 500 company. It describes potential costs of such policies, some of their unintended consequences, and whether policymakers might push them further in the attempt to constrain other Chinese firms. |
| Keywords: | Export restrictions; Huawei; National Security; Semiconductors; SMIC; Supply Chains; USâ??China trade relations |
| JEL: | F13 |
| Date: | 2020–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:15597&r= |
| By: | Uwe Böwer |
| Abstract: | Just when Egypt had achieved a hard-earned economic stabilisation and was on track towards more sustainable growth, COVID-19 threw the country back into stabilisation mode. Building on the economy’s strengthened fundamentals, swift government intervention helped mitigate the pandemic’s economic fallout, seeing the economy through the storm with resilience. However, Egypt’s growth performance has increasingly relied on extractive industries and a large role of the state in the economy. Compared to emerging market peers, Egypt might not yet be fully exploiting its catching-up growth potential. Strong population growth amid low participation rates calls for a redoubling of efforts to make Egypt’s post-COVID growth path more inclusive and sustainable, with the non-oil private sector at its core. Unleashing the private sector’s potential for growth and job creation will require a more enabling environment for trade and investment by removing non-tariff barriers and creating a level playing field for investors, including vis-à-vis public and state-connected firms. Fast-tracking the twin transition towards a digital and greener economy would capitalise on the digitalisation push ushered in by the pandemic and help Egypt to reap its large opportunities for a green and sustainable recovery. |
| Keywords: | Uwe Böwer, Economic analysis of Egypt’s growth drivers and medium-term growth prospects, Egypt, growth, private sector, state-owned enterprises, trade, investment, competition, digital transition, green growth. |
| JEL: | F13 L32 O53 |
| Date: | 2021–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:euf:ecobri:066&r= |
| By: | Patrice Ollivaud |
| Abstract: | Favourable demographics has boosted Indonesia’s economic growth in recent decades, but its contribution will wane over time. Skills and competences will therefore become increasingly important to raise living standards. Educational attainment has improved considerably, but the quality of education remains disappointing. At the same time, technological changes, new organisational business models and evolving worker preferences make upskilling and reskilling increasingly important. This warrants continuous investment in improving education and lifelong training, in terms of both quality and quantity, with an enhanced role for social partners. Tackling existing and rising skill shortages requires more participation from women, older adults, internal migrants, disadvantaged groups, and foreign workers. Expanding access to early childhood education would provide all children with better opportunities and bring significant benefits. Reducing informality is key to encouraging investment in skills. The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted workers’ insufficient protection against shocks, underlining the need for unemployment insurance. It is also an opportunity to boost digitalisation and innovate with smart practices. School closures are already penalising learning outcomes and will reduce future earnings. |
| Keywords: | education, Indonesia, informal jobs, labour market, skills |
| JEL: | I25 J21 J24 J30 J46 |
| Date: | 2021–05–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:1670-en&r= |