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on Information and Communication Technologies |
| By: | Sofia Amaral-Garcia (European Commission - Joint Research Center, i3health/Universite libre de Bruxelles); Mattia Nardotto (ECARES - Universite libre de Bruxelles, CEPR and CESifo); Carol Propper (Imperial College London, Monash University, CEPR and IFS); Tommaso Valletti (Imperial College London, CEPR and CESifo) |
| Abstract: | We study the effect of internet diffusion on the uptake of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine for children in England between 2000 and 2011. OLS estimates suggest that internet diffusion led to an increase in vaccinations but this result is reversed once we instrument for internet access. We find that the effect of internet diffusion on vaccination rates is sizable: a change of one standard deviation in internet take up determined an approximately 20% decrease in vaccination rate. We also find that areas with a higher proportion of high skilled individuals and lower deprivation levels are those with a higher response to internet diffusion in terms of the reduction in MMR vaccination rates. These findings are consistent with higher skilled and less deprived parents responding faster to false information circulated at the time that the vaccine could lead to autism. Even though this information has been proven to be wrong, these parents were those absorbing it more. |
| Keywords: | MMR vaccines, vaccine hesitancy, broadband internet, misinfromation |
| JEL: | I10 I12 L86 |
| Date: | 2023–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mhe:chemon:2023-04&r=ict |
| By: | Toyo A. M. Dossou (Sichuan, China.); Emmanuelle N. Kambaye (Sichuan, China); Mesfin W. Berhe (Sichuan , China); Simplice A. Asongu (Yaoundé, Cameroon) |
| Abstract: | The ICT-income inequality relationship and the governance quality-income inequality nexus have been investigated in recent years. However, the moderating effect of ICT on the governance quality-income inequality linkage has been largely ignored. To fill this gap in the literature, this study examines the moderating effect of ICT on the relationship between governance quality and income inequality for a panel of 42 sub-Saharan African economies over the period 1996-2020. To achieve this goal, the generalized method of moments (GMM) estimation technique has been adopted. The results reveal that while ICT contributes to the improvement of income distribution, governance quality contributes to the exacerbation of income inequality. Interestingly, the results unveil that the promotion of E-governance could contribute to improve social welfare and reduce income inequality. Policy implications are given based on the findings of this study. For instance, institutional reforms must be conducted by considering ICT as an important factor to improve income distribution. |
| Keywords: | ICT, governance quality, income inequality, GMM, sub-Saharan Africa |
| Date: | 2023–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:agd:wpaper:23/021&r=ict |
| By: | Atkinson, Craig |
| Abstract: | With the emergence of new modes of governance, the article specifies a legal-technical basis – background, analytical structure, sources, methods, and research questions – to advance the notion of a ‘computable’ transatlantic trade agreement. |
| Abstract: | Applications of Computational Law (CompLaw) are emerging that allow for the expression and online publication of digital versions of rules as algorithms to improve accessibility for humans and support operationalization via machines. As instruments begin to refer to governance for, of, and by information and communications technology (ICT), this article introduces public and private branches of law to construct a five-point legal-technical basis for a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) 'version 2.0' with computational rules (and data sources) in parallel to its natural language, other texts, and associated systems. First, the nature of the European Union (EU)-United States (US) relationship is described in the age of Computational Law and the Internet. Second, the analysis explores the ‘multilateral interface’ and proposals under the World Trade Organization (WTO) Joint Initiative on E-commerce. Third, existing and envisaged sources of EU and US trade, business, technology, and privacy law are compared. Fourth, the investigation frames institutional sources of transnational commercial law, including the principles, conventions, and model laws of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) and the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT). Fifth, technical requirements to seize the CompLaw opportunity for transatlantic trade are articulated. Outputs of the specified analytical structure are set to contribute to the advancement of legal informatics at the nexus of EU-US trade and technology policy regimes. Article by Craig Atkinson, WTI Non-Resident Fellow and Visiting Scholar at Singapore Management University's Yong Pung How School of Law, published by the Stanford –Vienna Transatlantic Technology Law Forum in the Transatlantic Antitrust and IPR Developments Newsletter Issue No. 1/2023 (May 12, 2023), pp. 31-37 (open access). |
| Date: | 2023–05–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wti:papers:1394&r=ict |
| By: | Knauss, Steven |
| Abstract: | Initially based in the ICT sector, technologies based on intangible assets have since generalized throughout the economy and are playing a central role in the digitalization of manufacturing. As global value chains (GVCs) potentially bring such changes to developing countries, hopes are raised for “sustainable industrialization, ” where the greater scalability, spillovers and synergies engendered by intangible assets could favor more rapid economic upgrading while at the same time unleashing significant gains in energy efficiency. To better assess the plausibility of such projections, this paper conducts a cross-country panel study of GVCs in 30 sectors and 67 countries between 1995 and 2018. The link is explored between the intangible asset intensity of GVCs and each of the two pillars of sustainable industrialization: energy efficiency and developing country upgrading. The results find little evidence for the optimistic view, suggesting that intangible spillovers in GVCs may be limited by winner take most dynamics and tendencies toward intellectual property monopolies. The path toward sustainable structural transformation in developing economies is therefore likely to require more active forms of industrial policy and a financial architecture that favors them. |
| Keywords: | global value chains; development; intangible assets; energy efficiency |
| Date: | 2023–02–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wus045:36836831&r=ict |
| By: | Simplice A. Asongu (Yaounde, Cameroon) |
| Abstract: | This study assesses how corporate telecommunication (telecom) policies follow telecom sector regulation in mobile money innovation for financial inclusion in developing countries. Telecom policies are understood in terms of mobile subscriptions, mobile connectivity coverage and mobile connectivity performance while mobile money innovations represent mobile money accounts, the mobile used to send money and the mobile used to receive money. The empirical evidence is based on Tobit regressions. Telecom sector regulation positively influences mobile money innovations. From net influences, mobile subscriptions and connectivity policies moderate telecom sector regulation to positively influence mobile money innovations; exclusively within the remit of mobile money accounts because the corresponding net influences on the mobile used to send money and the mobile used to receive money are negative. The interactive influences are consistently negative and hence, thresholds for complementary policies are provided in order to maintain the positive influence of telecom sector regulation on mobile money innovations. This study has complemented the extant literature by assessing how corporate telecommunication policies follow telecommunication sector regulation in mobile money innovations for financial inclusion. |
| Keywords: | Mobile money; technology diffusion; financial inclusion; inclusive innovation |
| JEL: | D10 D14 D31 D60 O30 |
| Date: | 2023–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:agd:wpaper:23/017&r=ict |