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on Information and Communication Technologies |
| By: | NIcholas M Odhiambo (University of South Africa) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, the dynamic relationship between ICT, income inequality and economic growth in sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries is examined during the period 2004-2014. Three ICT and three income inequality indicators were used to examine this linkage. The ICT indicators used include internet penetration, mobile phone penetration and fixed broadband subscription, while the income inequality indicators include the Gini coefficient, the Atkinson index and the Palma ratio. Using the Generalised Method of Moments (GMM) estimation technique, the study found that, on the whole, an increase in ICT development unconditionally leads to an increase in economic growth in the countries under study. The study also found that the threshold level of income inequality, which should not be exceeded in order for the positive impact of ICT on economic growth to be sustained, depends on the ICT proxy used and the income inequality indicator. Specifically, the study found that for ICT to have a sustained positive impact on economic growth, i) the Gini coefficient in the mobile penetration specification should not exceed 0.520; ii) the Gini coefficient and Atkinson index in the internet penetration specification should not exceed 0.531 and 0.560, respectively; and iii) the Gini coefficient, Atkinson index and Palma ratio in the fixed broadband subscriptions should not exceed 0.551, 0.633 and 4.664, respectively. Policy implications are discussed. |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:afa:wpaper:aesriwp14&r= |
| By: | Tii N. Nchofoung (University of Dschang, Cameroon); Simplice A. Asongu (Yaoundé, Cameroon); Vanessa S. Tchamyou (Yaoundé, Cameroon) |
| Abstract: | This study empirically examines the effect of tourism and ICT on inclusive development. Inclusive development is approached as human development adjusted for environmental sustainability; ICT is based on mobile phones subscription rate, internet penetration and fixed broadband subscription and a composite indicator of these, while tourism is approached as a the number of arrivals. The data are collected for 142 countries globally between the 2000-2019 period and the regression methodologies involve the POLS, the Driscoll and Kraay estimator, the Mean Group, the System GMM and the fixed effects Tobit regression. The results of the linear model show that, tourism enhances sustainable development and ICT has a negative significant effect. While the effect of tourism is robust across income groups, regional groupings and regression methodologies, the effect of ICT varies across these different specifications. When non-linearity is considered, the effects of both ICT and tourism are positive and robustly non-linear. The non-linear effect of tourism is not however feasible across income groups. Besides, while the effect of tourism is positively and non-lineally related to sustainable development in politically-stable economies, the effect is non-significant in unstable economies. From the results, countries should seize the opportunity offered by the tourism sector and ICT as effective policy tools towards sustainable development. In this regard, countries should invest in both ICT and tourism while observing the thresholds where complementary policies should be used. Also, politically-unstable economies should engage in peace talks such that they could join their politically-stable counterparts in benefiting from the positive economic effects offered by tourism and ICT. |
| Keywords: | Inclusive development; ICT; tourism |
| JEL: | G20 I10 I32 O40 Z32 |
| Date: | 2022–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:agd:wpaper:22/037&r= |
| By: | Denisa Maria Vilceanu (National School of Political and Administrative Studies, Bucharest, Romania) |
| Abstract: | The concept of digital social innovation (ISN- new social innovation) is mobilized in various contexts and its retention is possible through several complementary levels. First, at the social level, ISN covers perimeters of collective use, involving a multitude of actors in order to co-create social value (Cajaiba-Santana, 2014, 42-51). Second, at the technological level, they generate an open operating process based on an innovative hardware and software architecture, as well as on specific functional mechanisms. Finally, at the ecological level, ISNs focus on responsible innovation (Van Der Yeught and Bon, 2016, 27-40) and the desire to respond to social and environmental issues. This study falls more precisely in the field of Information and Communication Sciences (ICS). Indeed, this is not a purely technological reflection, but an understanding of the wider integration of information and communication technologies (ICT) and their use in an environment, the context that covers the area of citizen participation in government and the level of involvement of the latter. |
| Keywords: | technology, digital social innovation, public authority, civic involvement, electronic participation |
| Date: | 2022–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:smo:raiswp:0172&r= |
| By: | Janice Eberly; Jonathan Haskel; Paul Mizen |
| Abstract: | The impact of an economic shock depends both on its severity and the resilience of the economic response. Resilience can include the ability to relocate factors, for example, even when new technologies or skills are not yet at the ready. This resilience per se buffers production and has an economic value, which we estimate. The COVID-19 pandemic caused a widespread decline in recorded GDP. Yet, as catastrophic as the collapse was, it was buffered by an unprecedented and spontaneous deployment of what we call "Potential Capital," the dwelling/residential capital and connective technologies used alongside working from home. Together potential capital and labor working from home provided additional output margins and capacity. We estimate the contribution of this capital, and the remote work that it facilitated, to have roughly halved the decline in GDP in the US reducing the fall in GDP to 9.4 log points in 2020Q2 at the trough of the recession. Similar effects are seen in the 6 OECD countries for which data are available, output fell by 14 log points, but would have fallen by 26 log points had only workplace inputs been available. Accounting for the contribution of "Potential Capital" also revises downwards estimated total productivity gains in the business sector during the pandemic from 8 log points to 5 log points in 2020Q2. We also find an output elasticity of domestic non-dwellings capital to be similar to that of workplace ICT capital, reflecting its role as productive capital. Turning to the future, changes in working from home depend upon relative costs, relative technologies and, crucially, the elasticity of substitution between home and work tasks. We estimate that that elasticity to be more than unity, meaning that the growth of ICT will raise the share of work done remotely. |
| Keywords: | covid-19, productivity growth, working from home |
| JEL: | E01 E22 O47 |
| Date: | 2021–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nsr:escoed:escoe-dp-2021-15&r= |
| By: | Julia Cage (ECON - Département d'économie (Sciences Po) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, CEPR - Center for Economic Policy Research - CEPR); Edgard Dewitte (ECON - Département d'économie (Sciences Po) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | We study electoral campaigns over the long run, through the lens of their spending. In particular, we ask whether changing media technologies and electoral environments impacted patterns of spending and their correlation with electoral results. To do so, we build a novel exhaustive dataset on general elections in the United Kingdom from 1857 to 2017, which includes information on campaign spending (itemized by expense categories), electoral outcomes and socio-demographic characteristics for 69, 042 election-constituency candidates. We start by providing new insights on the history of British political campaigns, in particular the growing importance of advertising material, including via digital means, to the detriment of paid staff and electoral meetings. We then show that there is a strong positive correlation between expenditures and votes, and that overall the magnitude of this relationship has strongly increased since the 1880s, with a peak in the last quarter of the 20th century. We link these transformations to changes in the conduct of campaigns, and to the introduction of new information technologies. We show in particular that the expansion of local radio and broadband Internet increased the sensitivity of the electoral results to differences in campaign spending. These results encourage greater contextualization in the drafting of campaign finance regulations. |
| Keywords: | Elections,Campaign finance,Electoral expenditures,Information technologies |
| Date: | 2021–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpspec:hal-03384143&r= |
| By: | Julia Cage (ECON - Département d'économie (Sciences Po) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, LIEPP - Laboratoire interdisciplinaire d'évaluation des politiques publiques (Sciences Po) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po); Edgard Dewitte (ECON - Département d'économie (Sciences Po) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, LIEPP - Laboratoire interdisciplinaire d'évaluation des politiques publiques (Sciences Po) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies electoral campaigns over the long run, through the lens of their spending. In particular, we ask whether changing media technologies and electoral environments have impacted patterns of campaign spending, and their correlation with electoral results. To do so, we build a novel exhaustive dataset on general elections in the United Kingdom from 1857 to 2017, which includes information on campaign spending (itemized by expense categories), electoral outcomes and sociodemographic characteristics for 69,042 election-constituency-candidates. We start by providing new insights on the history of British political campaigns, documenting in particular the growing importance of advertising material (including via digital means), to the detriment of paid staff and electoral meetings. Using a saturated fixed effects model, we then show that there is a strong positive correlation between expenditures and votes, and that overall the magnitude of this relationship has strongly increased since the 1880s, peaking in the last quarter of the 20th century. We link these transformations to changes in the conduct of campaigns, and to the introduction of new information technologies. We show in particular that the expansion of local radio and broadband Internet increased the sensitivity of the electoral results to differences in campaign spending. |
| Abstract: | Cet article étudie les campagnes électorales sur le long terme, à travers le prisme de leurs dépenses. En particulier, nous investiguons l'impact des évolutions majeures dans les technologies de l'information et les contextes électoraux sur les niveaux, allocations et influences des dépenses des candidats. Pour ce faire, nous construisons un nouvel ensemble de données exhaustif sur les élections générales au Royaume-Uni de 1857 à 2017, qui comprend des informations sur les dépenses de campagne (détaillées par catégories de dépenses), les résultats électoraux et les caractéristiques sociodémographiques de 69042 candidats-élections-circonscriptions. Nous commençons par apporter de nouveaux éclairages sur l'histoire des campagnes politiques britanniques, en documentant notamment l'importance croissante du matériel publicitaire (y compris via des moyens numériques), au détriment du personnel rémunéré et des meetings électoraux. À l'aide d'un modèle à effets fixes, nous montrons ensuite qu'il existe une forte corrélation positive entre les dépenses des candidats et les résultats électoraux de ceux ci, et que, dans l'ensemble, la magnitude de cette relation a fortement augmenté depuis les années 1880, pour atteindre un pic dans le dernier quart du XXe siècle. Nous lions ces transformations à des changements dans les stratégies de campagne et à l'introduction de nouvelles technologies de l'information. Nous montrons en particulier que l'expansion de la radio locale et de l'ADSL a augmenté la sensibilité des résultats électoraux aux différences de dépenses de campagne. |
| Keywords: | Electoral campaigns,Campaign spending,Elections |
| Date: | 2022–03–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpspec:hal-03619549&r= |
| By: | Dillon, Emma J.; Moran, Brian |
| Abstract: | This paper provides a baseline assessment of Irish farmer engagement with digital technologies in operating their farm businesses pre-COVID using nationally representative data from the 2019 Teagasc National Farm Survey. The analysis thus identifies those farmers most equipped to adapt to the changing communication and operational environment and those most vulnerable to exclusion and isolation. Survey results confirm that dairy farmers are more engaged with computer and smartphone technology in operating their farm business. Preliminary econometric investigations confirm the importance of socio-demographic factors relating to both farm and household in influencing farmer uptake of such technology. More engaged farmers tended to be younger, living in younger households and with higher agri-educational qualifications. Conversely, older farmers living alone, were less likely to use ICT in conducting their farm business. Further in-depth econometric investigation is required to explore the drivers and barriers to technology adoption. |
| Keywords: | Farm Management, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies |
| Date: | 2022–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aesc22:321160&r= |
| By: | Marfri Gambal; Aleksandre Asatiani; Julia Kotlarsky |
| Abstract: | Competition in the Information Technology Outsourcing (ITO) and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry is increasingly moving from being motivated by cost savings towards strategic benefits that service providers can offer to their clients. Innovation is one such benefit that is expected nowadays in outsourcing engagements. The rising importance of innovation has been noticed and acknowledged not only in the Information Systems (IS) literature, but also in other management streams such as innovation and strategy. However, to date, these individual strands of research remain largely isolated from each other. Our theoretical review addresses this gap by consolidating and analyzing research on strategic innovation in the ITO and BPO context. The article set includes 95 papers published between 1998 to 2020 in outlets from the IS and related management fields. We craft a four-phase framework that integrates prior insights about (1) the antecedents of the decision to pursue strategic innovation in outsourcing settings; (2) arrangement options that facilitate strategic innovation in outsourcing relationships; (3) the generation of strategic innovations; and (4) realized strategic innovation outcomes, as assessed in the literature. We find that the research landscape to date is skewed, with many studies focusing on the first two phases. The last two phases remain relatively uncharted. We also discuss how innovation-oriented outsourcing insights compare with established research on cost-oriented outsourcing engagements. Finally, we offer directions for future research. |
| Date: | 2022–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2206.00982&r= |
| By: | TSURU Kotaro; KAWAKAMI Atsushi; KUME Koichi |
| Abstract: | With the rapid development of new technologies including ICT and AI and the data economy, employment system and work style have undergone major changes triggered by the unprecedented environmental change of the COVID-19 crisis. In particular, telework, independent self-employment, and multiple job holders are attracting attention as new work styles made possible by new technologies. At the same time, these work styles are causing various labor issues. In order to respond to such changes, we need to have a more fundamental and broader perspective on new work styles and labor markets, however, existing studies on telework, independent self-employment, and multiple job holders have been conducted independently, despite the interdependence of these work styles. This paper introduces preliminary results of a comprehensive web survey conducted by the Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI) to understand the actual conditions and issues of working styles: teleworking, independent self-employment, multiple job holding, and unemployment. |
| Date: | 2022–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:rpdpjp:22014&r= |