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on Information and Communication Technologies |
| By: | Amat Adarov (The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw); Dimitrios Exadaktylos; Mahdi Ghodsi (The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw); Robert Stehrer (The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw); Roman Stöllinger (The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw) |
| Abstract: | The competitiveness of industries and countries is shaped more and more by technological advancement in the production and use of information and communications technology (ICT). This report considers the supply side of ICT goods and services. It studies the drivers of ICT production location and trade across countries with a focus on the relative position of the EU. The analyses clearly indicate that the EU must step up its efforts to accelerate the shift towards digital production and strengthening the ICT sector that produces the required technologies and services. In addition, from a trade policy perspective, a harmonised set of standards and regulatory framework is to be aimed at to minimise mismatches in technical specifications and requirements. This will lead to the diffusion of positive externalities and should allow for a smooth operation of the global value chains in these products. |
| Keywords: | information and communications technology, digitalisation, production patterns, trade patterns |
| JEL: | F14 O33 L11 L63 |
| Date: | 2021–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wii:rpaper:rr:456&r= |
| By: | LEOGRANDE, ANGELO; COSTANTIELLO, ALBERTO; LAURETI, LUCIO |
| Abstract: | In this article we estimate the determinants of broadband penetration in Europe. We use data from the European Innovation Scoreboard of the European Commission for 37 countries in the period 2010-2019. We apply Panel Data with Fixed Effects, Panel Data with Random Effects, WLS, OLS and Dynamic Panel. We found that the level of “Broadband Penetration” in Europe is positively associated to “Enterprises Providing ICT Training”, “Innovative Sales Share”, “Intellectual Assets”, “Knowledge-Intensive Service Exports”, “Turnover Share SMEs”, “Innovation Friendly Environment” and negatively associated with “Government procurement of advanced technology products”, “Sales Impact”, “Firm Investments”, “Opportunity-Driven Entrepreneurship”, “Most Cited Publications”, “Rule of Law”. In adjunct we perform a clusterization with k-Means algorithm optimized with the Silhouette Coefficient and we find the presence of three different clusters. Finally, we apply eight machine learning algorithms to predict the level of “Broadband Penetration” in Europe and we find that the Polynomial Regression algorithm is the best predictor and that the level of the variable is expected to increase of 10,4%. |
| Keywords: | General; Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives; Management of Technological Innovation and R&D; Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Intellectual Property and Intellectual Capital. |
| JEL: | O30 O31 O32 O33 O34 |
| Date: | 2021–10–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:110457&r= |
| By: | Tsutomu Watanabe (Graduate School of Economics, University of Tokyo); Yuki Omori (Nowcast Inc.) |
| Abstract: | The spread of COVID-19 infections has led to substantial changes in consumption patterns. While demand for services that involve face-to-face contact has decreased sharply, online consumption of goods and services, such as through e-commerce, is increasing. The aim of this paper is to investigate whether online consumption will continue to increase even after COVID-19 subsides. Online consumption requires upfront costs, which have been regarded as one of the factors inhibiting the diffusion of online consumption. However, if many consumers made such upfront investments due to the pandemic, they would have no reason to return to offline consumption after the pandemic has ended. We examine whether this was actually the case using credit card transaction data. Our main findings are as follows. First, the main group responsible for the increase in online consumption are consumers who were already familiar with it before the pandemic. These consumers increased the share of online spending in their overall spending. Second, some consumers that had never used the internet for purchases before started to do so due to COVID-19. However, the fraction of consumers making this switch was not very different from the trend before the crisis. Third, by age group, the switch to online consumption was more pronounced among youngsters than seniors. These findings suggest that it is not the case that during the pandemic a large number of consumers made the upfront investment necessary to switch to online consumption, so a certain portion of the increase in online consumption is likely to fall away again once COVID-19 subsides. |
| Date: | 2021–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upd:utmpwp:035&r= |
| By: | Fabrizio Ciotti; Lars Hornuf; Eliza Stenzhorn |
| Abstract: | This article reports on an investigation of the role of lock-in exploitation and the impact of reputation portability on workers’ switching behaviors in online labor markets. Online platforms using reputation mechanisms typically prevent users from transferring their ratings to other platforms, inducing lock-in effects and high switching costs and leaving users vulnerable to platform exploitation. With a theoretical model, in which workers in online labor markets are locked-in by their reputational data, we test the effects using an online lab-in-the-field decision experiment. In addition to comparing a policy regime with and without reputation portability, we vary lock-in exploitation using platform fees to consider how switching behavior might differ according to monetary motives and fairness preferences. Theoretically, this study reveals how reputational investments can produce switching costs that platforms can exploit. Experimentally, the results suggest that reputation portability mitigates lock-in effects, making users less susceptible to lock-in exploitation. The data further show that switching is driven primarily by monetary motives, but perceiving the fee as unfair also has a significant role. |
| Keywords: | crowdsourcing, online markets, online labor, reputation portability, switching costs |
| JEL: | J24 D91 L51 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9379&r= |
| By: | Suh, Jin Kyo (KOREA INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC POLICY (KIEP)); Lee, Cheon-Kee (KOREA INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC POLICY (KIEP)); Lee, Jukwan (KOREA INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC POLICY (KIEP)); Kim, Jihyeon (KOREA INSTITUTE FOR INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC POLICY (KIEP)); Jung, Myeonghwa (Korea Maritime Institute (KMI)) |
| Abstract: | The WTO is facing a historical crisis. Its main functions ‒ namely, providing a negotiating forum, administrating WTO trade agreements and monitoring national trade policies, and resolving trade disputes ‒ have been significantly paralyzed. Although the cause of the crisis is partly institutional, higher uncertainty is also a considerable problem aggravating the fate of the multilateral trading system. Such uncertainty comes from two factors: rising protectionism, and trade frictions between developed and developing countries including those between the United States and China. Meanwhile, the WTO also needs to respond to rapid structural changes in global trade. The center of the world’s trade is shifting towards trade in services. The development and spread of information and communication technology (ICT) are making it easier to supply services across borders. The regionalization or localization of global value chains (GVCs) continues and GVCs are shifting towards knowledge-based goods. Therefore, the WTO faces a historical challenge it is highly unlikely to survive without proper reflection on the new trends of global trade. With Korea no longer claiming for preferential treatments as a developing country, it could take relatively firm negotiating positions at the WTO concerning market expansion and improved access towards foreign markets. Moreover, Korea could contribute as a mediator to speak for balancing the interests of both developed and developing countries on conflicting issues, such as the developing country status. Korea also needs to establish a more precise give-and-take negotiation strategy in future WTO negotiations on agriculture, non-agriculture, and service sectors to maximize its national interests. In particular, Korea should put stress on services and TRIPs negotiations to ensure its international competitiveness on those sectors. Trade in services and IP will dominate trade in goods. Korea also should focus on how to raise the efficiency and stability of the East-Asian regional value chains by strengthening its co-operation with China, Japan, and Southeast Asia. At the same time, Korea needs to consider ways to become the bridgehead connecting East Asia's value chains to either North America's value chains or the EU's value chains utilizing given FTAs with those economies. Finally, Korea should prepare for the emergence of various forms of plurilateral negotiations and where appropriate, take lead and reflect its national interests on the final outcome. |
| Keywords: | WTO; Korea; negotiation; global trade; service; ICT; GVCs; TRIPs; value chain |
| Date: | 2021–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:kiepwe:2021_030&r= |
| By: | Circella, Giovanni; Iogansen, Xiatian; Matson, Grant; Malik, Jai; Etezady, Ali |
| Abstract: | Emerging transportation services, whose development and adoption have been enabled by information and communication technology, are largely transforming people’s travel and activity patterns. This study investigates the emerging transportation trends and how they transform travel-related decision-making in the population at large through the application of a unique longitudinal approach. As part of this project, a second wave of data collection in 2018 was built with a rotating panel structure as a continuation of the research efforts that started with the collection of the 2015 California Millennials Dataset. This report focuses on the analyses of the data collected in this project, in particular on the differences in attitudes towards transportation and the environment among different generational groups, the adoption and use of shared mobility services, and their relationship with vehicle ownership, the interest in the adoption of alternative fuel vehicles, and the interest in the future adoption of connected and automated vehicles. Due to the small number of respondents who participated in both surveys, for the purposes of the analyses contained in this report, we treated the data as repeated cross-sectional and analyzed the data from each survey separately. The study helps researchers evaluate the complex relationship between observed/latent characteristics and individual travel-related choices and decision-making. The study highlights attitudinal and mode-choice differences across generations. It explores the factors impacting current adoption of and future interest in new transportation technology including alternative fuel vehicles, automated vehicles and shared mobility. Divergent consumer segments are witnessed within each of these markets, with distinctive socio-demographics, latent attitudes, built environment, and level of familiarity with new technologies, which shape the uniqueness of their vehicle ownership, residential location, travel behavior, activity patterns, and lifestyle. View the NCST Project Webpage |
| Keywords: | Social and Behavioral Sciences, Longitudinal Data, Cross-sectional Data, Millennials, Individual Lifestyles, Shared Mobility, Travel Behavior, Vehicle Ownership |
| Date: | 2021–11–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:itsdav:qt2j33z72p&r= |
| By: | Matilde Mas (University of Valencia and Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas (IVIE)); Juan Fernandez de Guevara (University of Valencia and Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas (IVIE)); Juan Carlos Robledo (Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas (IVIE)); Melisande Cardona (European Commission - JRC); Sofia Samoili (European Commission - JRC); Miguel Vazquez-Prada Baillet (European Commission - JRC); Riccardo Righi (European Commission - JRC); Michail Papazoglou (European Commission - JRC) |
| Abstract: | The 2021 PREDICT Key Facts Report provides a detailed analysis of the state of ICT R&D activities in the European Union (EU27) and 13 further economies worldwide. This is the 14th edition of a series that is published annually. Like the previous editions, an online version is available at: https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/predict. The report covers the period between 1995 and 2018, providing a long-term analysis of the EU ICT sector and its R&D, covering a whole cycle from the initial expansion years to the double recession that began in early 2008, and the most recent evolution up to 2018. For the EU aggregate the report includes nowcasted data for 2019 and 2020. Therefore, it offers a glimpse of the effects of COVID-19. The statistical information provided by the figures allows the comparison between: the ICT sector and the total economy; the ICT manufacturing sector and the ICT services sector; the four ICT manufacturing sectors, two ICT services sectors, and Media and content and Retail sale via mail order houses or via Internet sectors; EU countries; the EU and the international context (including the most relevant countries in the world economy). The report focuses especially on the ICT R&D macroeconomic dynamics. |
| Keywords: | R&D, ICT, innovation, statistics, digital economy, ICT industry analysis, ICT R&D and innovation |
| JEL: | O30 O32 O52 |
| Date: | 2021–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc126592&r= |