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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 examine the effect of internet diffusion on the uptake of an important public health inter- vention: the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine. We study England between 2000 and 2011 when internet diffusion spread rapidly and there was a high profile medical article (falsely) linking the MMR vaccine to autism. OLS estimates suggest internet diffusion led to an increase in vaccination rates. This result is reversed after allowing for endogeneity of internet access. The effect of internet diffusion is sizable. A one standard deviation increase in internet penetration led to around a 20% decrease in vaccination rates. Localities characterised by higher proportions of high skilled individuals and lower deprivation levels had a larger re- sponse to internet diffusion. These findings are consistent with higher skilled and less deprived parents responding faster to false information that the vaccine could lead to autism. |
| Keywords: | Internet access, Vaccines, Child health |
| JEL: | I12 I18 |
| Date: | 2024–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mhe:chemon:2024-04&r= |
| By: | Johannes S Kunz (Monash University); Carol Propper (Imperial College London, Monash University); Trong-Anh Trinh (Monash University) |
| Abstract: | Digital access may bring important health gains, particularly where physical infrastructure is limited. We examine the impact of internet access in Indonesia on health outcomes using the COVID-19 pandemic as a health shock. We utilize sub-national data on mobile broadband, COVID-19 spread, and an instrumental variable approach using lightning strikes as an exogenous shock to connectivity. Access to 3G internet significantly reduced the transmission of COVID-19. Areas with internet access had approximately 45% fewer cases. Regions with higher literacy and capacity for telework benefited significantly more. These findings offer novel insights into how digital infrastructure affects public health outcomes. |
| Keywords: | Health emergencies, Internet access, Information, COVID-19 Spread, Indonesia |
| JEL: | I12 I15 I31 O18 L96 H41 |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mhe:chemon:2024-07&r= |
| By: | OECD |
| Abstract: | Ubiquitous access to high-quality broadband connectivity is crucial for digital transformation, economic growth, and productivity. The challenge lies in ensuring sustained long-term investments in broadband infrastructure. This report examines the diversity of actors in the financial landscape of connectivity infrastructure, highlighting trends in broadband network financing and future implications. It focuses on five important groups that invest in and provide funding for broadband infrastructure: communication operators, tower companies, big technology companies, financial asset managers, and the public sector. Communication operators saw revenue growth from 2008 to 2022, but their investment decisions going forward will depend on future returns and interest rates. Meanwhile, tower companies, big technology companies, and financial asset managers are reshaping the connectivity landscape. Finally, the report looks at the public sector, which plays an important role in enabling investments in communication infrastructure. |
| Keywords: | broadband connectivity, broadband infrastructure financing |
| Date: | 2024–06–20 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:stiaab:365-en&r= |
| By: | Shenle Pan (CGS i3 - Centre de Gestion Scientifique i3 - Mines Paris - PSL (École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris) - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - I3 - Institut interdisciplinaire de l’innovation - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the potential contribution of blockchain (BC) technology to the Physical Internet (PI) for enhancing logistics collaboration management, and proposes a forward-looking deployment framework. Inspired by the digital internet, PI is a worldwide emerging logistics paradigm that advocates the interconnection of independent and heterogeneous logistics networks for the mutual sharing of services and assets. Such a paradigm will fundamentally challenge current operations management models and practices to achieve PI-based cooperation and co-opetition. New information technologies, notably BC technology including smart contracts and tokens, are considered promising in this regard. This paper aims to contribute to research by investigating why and how BC can be used in PI from the perspective of collaboration management. We then propose a framework for the deployment of BC in PI from operational to strategic levels. The key requirements as well as challenges to applying state-of-the-art BC technology to PI are also investigated. |
| Keywords: | logistics, supply chain, Blockchain, Smart Contract, Token incentives, Physical Internet, collaboration management, digital interoperability |
| Date: | 2024–08–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04600654&r= |
| By: | Miller, Marcus (University of Warwick, CAGE and CEPR) |
| Abstract: | As the world experiences a fourth industrial revolution - in Information Technology - we look back at how things turned out in the first Industrial Revolution, which began when Adam Smith was writing The Wealth of Nations. For the historical record, we draw on the recent study of Power and Progress by Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson, who describe how the benefits of innovation were – or were not - spread across society in Britain at that time. This paper focuses on the case of India under colonial rule, however, where two themes emerge. First, how the transfer of technology under the control of a private company – based in London and granted monopoly powers by the British government - was enough to stymie the ‘virtuous spiral of Smithian growth’ for a century or more. Second, how two centuries of colonial control also deprived the indigenous population of what Amartya Sen has claimed is the key insurance against famine - namely democratic accountability. The paper end with brief remarks on how industrial policy in India of today could help spread the benefits of the current IT revolution. |
| Keywords: | Adam Smith ; specialisation ; development ; colonisation ; famine ; case studies in economic history JEL Codes: B12 ; F54 ; L12 ; Q1 ; O30 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wrk:warwec:1497&r= |
| By: | Seungjin Han; Alex Sam; Youngki Shin |
| Abstract: | We study monotone equilibrium design by a planner who chooses an interval of reactions that receivers take before senders and receivers move in matching markets with signaling. In our nonlinear settings, surplus efficiency frontier is convex with decreasing-returns-to-scale information technology. The optimal reaction interval crucially depends on the ripple effect of its lower bound and the trade-off between matching inefficiency and signaling cost savings in the top pooling region generated by its upper bound. Our analysis generates cohesive market design results that integrate the literature on minimum wage, firm size distribution, and relative risk aversion. |
| Date: | 2024–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2406.01886&r= |
| By: | Sébastien Bock (OFCE - Observatoire français des conjonctures économiques (Sciences Po) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po); Aya Elewa (OFCE - Observatoire français des conjonctures économiques (Sciences Po) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po); Sarah Guillou (OFCE - Observatoire français des conjonctures économiques (Sciences Po) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po); Mauro Napoletano (OFCE - Observatoire français des conjonctures économiques (Sciences Po) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po); Lionel Nesta (OFCE - Observatoire français des conjonctures économiques (Sciences Po) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po) |
| Abstract: | Over the past 20 years, the gap in per capita income between the United States and the eurozone, which stood at around €10, 000 in 2000, has not narrowed. It has widened since 2012. GDP per capita in the eurozone fell from 77% to 72% of US GDP per capita the 2000 and 2019, thus diverging from the level of wealth on the other side of the Atlantic.This gradual decoupling of GDP per capita started before the pandemic. This Policy Brief therefore looks at this European lagging – the widening gap – over the twenty years before the pandemic and the energy crisis, from 2000 to 2019, and explores possible explanations for this decoupling. Our results show that divergence between the eurozone and the United States is mainly due to lower hour productivity growth in the former. It also appears that capital, much more than differences in working hours, is a major factor in the divergence between the two zones. Productive efficiency diverges because of lower capital intensity in information and communication technology (ICT) equipment on the one hand, and in intangible assets on the other. The amount of ICT capital per job was five times higher in the United States in 2019; the amount of intangible capital per job was three times higher. These yawning gaps in 2019 were not as much as wide in 2000. Of course, there are also big differences between the Member States of the eurozone, so we must be careful not to draw premature conclusions about the European aggregate and the inadequacy of Europe's policies. Indeed, Germany comes close to the US level (82% in 2019); France stands out for its sustained intangible investment, but without distinguishing itself in terms of GDP growth; and Italy lags behind, with very low level of productivity gains and intangible investment, while Spain is in a process of catching up. Despite these intra-European differences, the capital factor seems to be the driving force behind the gap and divergence for all the countries observed. And by its very nature, the deficit in capital accumulation will also be the cause of divergence after 2019. If policy recommendations are to be defined, they must aim at increasing the investment in ICT and intangible assets to catch up with the level of capital available per job in the United States. |
| Date: | 2024–05–30 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04593877&r= |
| By: | Berger, Benedikt; Adam, Martin; Rühr, Alexander; Benlian, Alexander |
| Abstract: | Owing to advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and specifically in machine learning, information technology (IT) systems can support humans in an increasing number of tasks. Yet, previous research indicates that people often prefer human support to support by an IT system, even if the latter provides superior performance – a phenomenon called algorithm aversion. A possible cause of algorithm aversion put forward in literature is that users lose trust in IT systems they become familiar with and perceive to err, for example, making forecasts that turn out to deviate from the actual value. Therefore, this paper evaluates the effectiveness of demonstrating an AI-based system’s ability to learn as a potential countermeasure against algorithm aversion in an incentive-compatible online experiment. The experiment reveals how the nature of an erring advisor (i.e., human vs. algorithmic), its familiarity to the user (i.e., unfamiliar vs. familiar), and its ability to learn (i.e., non-learning vs. learning) influence a decision maker’s reliance on the advisor’s judgement for an objective and non-personal decision task. The results reveal no difference in the reliance on unfamiliar human and algorithmic advisors, but differences in the reliance on familiar human and algorithmic advisors that err. Demonstrating an advisor’s ability to learn, however, offsets the effect of familiarity. Therefore, this study contributes to an enhanced understanding of algorithm aversion and is one of the first to examine how users perceive whether an IT system is able to learn. The findings provide theoretical and practical implications for the employment and design of AI-based systems. |
| Date: | 2024–06–18 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dar:wpaper:146095&r= |
| By: | Arvidsson, Niklas (KTH Royal Institute of Technology); Harahap, Fumi (KTH Royal Institute of Technology); Urban, Frauke (KTH Royal Institute of Technology); Nurdiawati , Anissa (KTH Royal Institute of Technology) |
| Abstract: | The expansion of digital payment services like retail Central Bank Digital Currencies (rCBDCs) built on innovative ICT infrastructure, notably datacenters, raises questions regarding potential environmental consequences due to electricity consumption. The design of such systems is critical for environmental impact as it scales with multiple actors and complex protocols as well as being influenced by server location and energy sources. In addition to other critical issues related to rCBDCs, understanding its environmental impact is therefore crucial for policymakers if they are to ensure sustainability. This study analyses one potential rCBDC, the Swedish e-krona project, by focusing on design choices and electricity consumption by comparing to existing retail payment services. Findings indicate that the energy use per transaction of the e-krona is comparable to that of card payments. There are, at the same time, significant differences in energy use depending on whether the design of the infrastructure for the e-krona is centralized or decentralized, where a centralized solution tend to be less energy consuming than a decentralized solution. The study has deployed a lifecycle perspective to explore energy consumption scenarios across various ledger infrastructures enabling a comprehensive assessment. |
| Keywords: | Energy Consumption; Climate Impact; Digital Payment; E-krona; rCBDC |
| JEL: | E58 O38 P44 Q58 |
| Date: | 2024–06–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:rbnkwp:0437&r= |