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on Information and Communication Technologies |
| By: | Ragasa, Catherine; Ma, Ning; Hami, Emmanuel |
| Abstract: | Many rural producer groups face poor management practices, low productivity, and weak market linkages. An information and communication technology (ICT)-based intervention bundle was provided to producer groups to transform them into ICT hubs, where members learn about and adopt improved management practices and increase their productivity and incomes. The intervention bundle includes phone messages and videos, promotion of the call center/hotline, and facilitation of radio listening clubs and collective marketing. The study, a cluster-randomized controlled trial, randomly assigned 59 groups into treatment groups and 59 into control groups. After 18 months of interventions, results show positive but small impact on crop sales (USD65 per household) and no impact on productivity. The income effect was mainly from Kasungu and Nkhota-kota, which experienced increased production and sales of rice, soybean, and groundnut and received higher prices due to collective marketing. Farmers in Kasungu and Nkhota-kota improved a few agricultural management practices, while farmers in other districts did not improve their management practices. Results show more farmers accessing phone messaging on agriculture and markets, greater awareness and use of the call center, more listening groups established, and more farmers—especially women—joining these groups. Nevertheless, coverage and uptake remain very low, which are likely reasons for the limited impact. |
| Keywords: | markets; Information and Communication Technologies; digital agriculture; digital extension tools; impact assessment; sales; productivity; agriculture; Africa; Eastern Africa; Malawi |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:ifprid:2261 |
| By: | Fabian Eckert; Sharat Ganapati; Conor Walsh |
| Abstract: | After 1980, larger US cities experienced substantially faster wage growth than smaller ones. We show that this urban bias mainly reflected wage growth at large Business Services firms. These firms stand out through their high per-worker expenditure on information technology and disproportionate presence in big cities. We introduce a spatial model of investment-specific technical change that can rationalize these patterns. Using the model as an accounting framework, we find that the observed decline in the investment price of information technology capital explains most urban-biased growth by raising the profits of large Business Services firms in big cities. |
| Keywords: | Urban Growth, High-skill Services, Technological Change |
| JEL: | J31 O33 R11 R12 |
| Date: | 2024–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:24-33 |
| By: | COSGROVE Judith (European Commission - JRC); SOSTERO Matteo; BERTONI Eleonora (European Commission - JRC) |
| Abstract: | This study maps the DigComp framework (European Digital Competence Framework for citizens) to the skills descriptors of ESCO (European Skills, Competencies, Qualifications and Occupations), the classification of skills which is used in the Skills-OVATE, the database of European online job advertisement (OJA). This experimental mapping allows to reconcile the “demand side” of digital skills sought by employers with the “supply side” of education and training for digital skills, through the lens of DigComp, which is used in many EU digital skills initiatives at international, national and regional levels. To date, out of nearly 14, 000 skills listed in ESCO, 2, 670 have been detected in OJA data. We find that 732 of ESCO skills map to one or more DigComp competences accounting for 54.5% of all skills mentioned in Skills-OVATE OJA between 2018 and 2022. However, coverage across DigComp competence area is uneven, with a higher emphasis on information and data literacy; content creation; and communication and collaboration, than on safety (which includes data protection and privacy, and environmental sustainability) or problem-solving. In line with existing research, DigComp-related skills are more often found in job advertisements of “white-collar” occupations, than of the other occupation groups. The extent to which DigComp-mapped ESCO skills descriptors are explicitly or implicitly in digital environments varies across DigComp competences. For example, information and data literacy skills were more likely to feature explicit digital environments than communication and collaboration skills. Some implications for the developers and users of the three sources of information are considered. |
| Date: | 2024–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc137060 |
| By: | Dwi Rahmadi Nur Fathoni (Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics & Business, Universitas Gadjah Mada); Evi Noor Afifah (Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics & Business, Universitas Gadjah Mada) |
| Abstract: | This study aims to determine the effect of internet usage on entrepreneurship in Indonesia. Probit regression is used in this study because the dependent variable is a binary category that indicates a family’s involvement in entrepreneurial activities. The data used in this study is secondary data sourced from the Survei Sosial Ekonomi Nasional (Susenas) in 2020 and 2021. The results show that internet usage increases the probability of entrepreneurship in Indonesia by 7.4 percentage points and is statistically significant. Further analysis shows that the effect of the internet is greater for necessity-based entrepreneurship and only affects rural areas in Indonesia. This research may have implications to add to the literature for entrepreneurship development in Indonesia to compete globally. |
| Keywords: | internet, entrepreneurship, probit, susenas, Indonesia. |
| JEL: | D1 J1 M2 O1 |
| Date: | 2024–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gme:wpaper:202403005 |
| By: | Davis, Kristin; Rosenbach, Gracie; Spielman, David J.; Makhija, Simrin; Mwangi, Lucy |
| Abstract: | The fourth Strategic Plan for Agriculture Transformation (PSTA IV) of the Government of Rwanda emphasizes extension and advisory services (EAS) as a priority area (MINAGRI 2018). In support of PSTA IV, the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources (MINAGRI) began enhancing extension and advisory services by introducing a Customized Agriculture Extension System (CAES) (MINAGRI 2020). The CAES calls for ICT-supported extension services, stating that “ICT can revolutionize agriculture in Rwanda†(MINAGRI 2020: 34). Despite an enabling policy environment and Rwanda’s embracing of the ICT revolution, extension services have not taken advantage of the potential of ICTs (MINAGRI 2020). This paper looks at capacities of agricultural extension staff and the readiness of Rwandan public and private extension staff to use ICTs in their work—to be digitally equipped. A phone survey of 500 agricultural extension agents (EAs) was conducted in February and March 2021 across all districts of Rwanda among EAs in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors in Rwanda. We examine their demographics, education, and work backgrounds. To assess the ‘digital readiness’ of EAs, we assess the impacts of various factors on an EA’s digital experience and their attitudes toward digital modernization. |
| Keywords: | Africa; Eastern Africa; Sub-Saharan Africa; Rwanda; agricultural extension; capacity development; policy innovation; gender |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:rssppn:13 |
| By: | Ana Aguilar; Jon Frost; Rafael Guerra; Steven Kamin; Alexandre Tombini |
| Abstract: | We examine the relationship between digital payment innovation, economic growth and informal activities in 101 economies over 2014–19. Following the economic growth literature, panel regressions relate growth rates of GDP per capita, total factor productivity (TFP) and the share of informal sector employment to lagged levels of these variables, the extent of digital payments use and various controls for endogeneity. We find that a one-percentage point increase in digital payments use is associated with increases in the growth of GDP per capita of 0.10 percentage points over a two-year period, and a decline in the share of informal sector employment of 0.06 percentage points over a two-year period. Insofar as the reported share of the population making digital payments ranges nearly from 0 to 100 percent, this is substantial. Digital payments do not appear to be significantly associated with rises in TFP, once controlling for general measures of digitalisation and government effectiveness, but they are linked to greater financial inclusion and credit access. Our results reinforce the case for government policies to encourage digital payments and, as complementary factors, access to the financial sector and information technology. |
| Keywords: | digital innovation, informal economy, productivity, economic growth |
| JEL: | G21 G23 O32 |
| Date: | 2024–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bis:biswps:1196 |