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on Information and Communication Technologies |
| By: | Konstantins Benkovskis (Latvijas Banka); Styliani Christodoulopoulou (European Central Bank); Olegs Tkacevs (Latvijas Banka) |
| Abstract: | This study examines the adoption of digital technologies by Latvian firms, focusing on the factors influencing adoption decisions and the impact of these technologies on firm performance. Using firm-level responses to the digitalisation survey, the paper covers four technologies: broadband internet, webpages, web sales, and EDI sales. The results suggest that larger firms, exporters, and those employing ICT specialists along with a higher-skilled workforce, are more inlined to adopt digital technologies. The provision of relevant training programmes for both ICT and non-ICT staff is essential for fostering technology adoption, particularly for more complex systems like web sales. To assess the impact of digitalisation on firm performance, the study employs a difference- in-differences approach, finding that webpage adoption positively affects turnover and employment, particularly in the manufacturing sector. EDI sales also enhance firm performance, boosting turnover and employment. The study emphasises the need for complementary investments in workforce skills, ICT training, and organisational re-structuring to fully realise the benefits of digital transformation. |
| Keywords: | digital technologies, e-commerce, firm performance |
| JEL: | D22 O14 O33 L25 J23 J24 F14 |
| Date: | 2025–04–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ltv:dpaper:202501 |
| By: | Aleksander S. Kritikos; Mika Maliranta; Veera Nippala; Satu Nurmi |
| Abstract: | We examine how the gender of business-owners is related to the wages paid to female relative to male employees working in their firms. Using Finnish register data and employing firm fixed effects, we find that the gender pay gap is – starting from a gender pay gap of 11 to 12 percent – two to three percentage-points lower for hourly wages in female-owned firms than in male-owned firms. Results are robust to how the wage is measured, as well as to various further robustness checks. More importantly, we find substantial differences between industries. While, for instance, in the manufacturing sector, the gender of the owner plays no role for the gender pay gap, in several service sector industries, like ICT or business services, no or a negligible gender pay gap can be found, but only when firms are led by female business owners. Businesses in male ownership maintain a gender pay gap of around 10 percent also in the latter industries. With increasing firm size, the influence of the gender of the owner, however, fades. In large firms, it seems that others – firm managers – determine wages and no differences in the pay gap are observed between male- and female-owned firms. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurship, gender pay gap, discrimination, linked employer-employee data |
| JEL: | J16 J24 J31 J71 L26 M13 |
| Date: | 2024–04–19 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pst:wpaper:343 |
| By: | Matteucci, Nicola; Picchio, Matteo; Santolini, Raffaella; Yebetchou Tchounkeu, Rostand Arland |
| Abstract: | The growing ageing of the population in developed economies has necessitated the progressive use of advanced information and communication technologies (ICTs) for the home care of elderly individuals. The effect of these technologies on elderly health outcomes remains an open issue. In this study, we analyze the impact of telecare on the mortality rate of elderly people in Italy using data at the municipal level and a doubly robust difference-in-differences design. Our results show that telecare services significantly reduced the mortality rate of the elderly aged 65 and over by 1.7 individuals per 1, 000 inhabitants. This effect was sizeable, since it was a 4% decrease in the elderly mortality rate relatively to the average elderly mortality rate in the treated municipalities. The reduction in the elderly mortality rate was greater in municipalities with a large proportion of childless elderly people, suggesting that telecare may be particularly useful for the elderly who find it more difficult to rely on strong family ties. Moreover, it was stronger in small municipalities, indicating that telecare may be more effective where there is a greater need to compensate for a lower level of traditional social and health care services. |
| Keywords: | telecare, elderly, health, mortality rate, municipalities |
| JEL: | I10 I18 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1594 |
| By: | Luca Fontanelli (University of Brescia, Department of Economics and Management, CMCC Foundation – Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change); Mattia Guerini (University of Brescia, Deparment of Economics and Management and Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei); Raffaele Miniaci (University of Brescia, Department of Economics and Management); Angelo Secchi (PSE – University Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne, CMCC Foundation – Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change) |
| Abstract: | While artificial intelligence (AI) adoption holds the potential to enhance business operations through improved forecasting and automation, its relation with average productivity growth remain highly heterogeneous across firms. This paper shifts the focus and investigates the impact of predictive artificial intelligence (AI) on the volatility of firms’ productivity growth rates. Using firm-level data from the 2019 French ICT survey, we provide robust evidence that AI use is associated with increased volatility. This relationship persists across multiple robustness checks, including analyses addressing causality concerns. To propose a possible mechanisms underlying this effect, we compare firms that purchase AI from external providers (“AI buyers†) and those that develop AI in-house (“AI developers†). Our results show that heightened volatility is concentrated among AI buyers, whereas firms that develop AI internally experience no such effect. Finally, we find that AI-induced volatility among “AI buyers†is mitigated in firms with a higher share of ICT engineers and technicians, suggesting that AI’s successful integration requires complementary human capital. |
| Keywords: | Artificial intelligence, productivity growth volatility, coarsened exact matching |
| JEL: | D20 J24 O14 O33 |
| Date: | 2025–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2025.11 |
| By: | Yao, Koffi Yves; Kouakou, Auguste Konan |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the effect of remittances on inclusive human development in sub-Saharan Africa. It considers the conditional effects of ICT, dual nationality, and financial development within this relationship. Estimates were derived using Population-Averaged Generalised Estimating Equations (PA-GEE), Fixed Effects Instrumental Variable (FEIV), and Method of Moments-Quantile Regression (MM-QR) on a panel of 31 countries over the period 2010–2017. The findings indicate that remittances positively contribute to inclusive human development. The interaction between remittances, financial development, and ICT further enhances this impact, as does dual citizenship. These results are robust and suggest that ICT through collaboration between migrants and their country of origin, laws favouring multiple citizenship, an efficient financial system and a business-friendly institutional environment, optimises the effect of remittances on inclusive development in sub-Saharan Africa. |
| Keywords: | Remittances, Inclusive Development, Human Development, Transnationalism, Sub-Saharan Africa |
| JEL: | F24 K37 O15 O33 O55 |
| Date: | 2025–02–19 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:123713 |
| By: | Katharina Bettig; Valentin Lindlacher |
| Abstract: | Commuting is a fundamental aspect of employees’ daily routines and continues to evolve with technological advancements. Yet the effects of commuting on subjective well-being remain insufficiently investigated in the context of expanding digital connectivity. This paper examines the causal effects of changes in commuting distance on subjective well-being in an era of widespread mobile internet availability. Exploiting exogenous shifts in commuting distance resulting from employer-driven workplace relocations, we employ a Difference-in-Differences framework using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) from 2010 to 2019. Our results show that an involuntary increase in commuting distance reduces life satisfaction by 3 percent, on average, and heightens feelings of worry by almost 8 percent, on average. Our heterogeneity analysis shows that increased mobile coverage during commutes partially mitigates the decline in life satisfaction but exacerbates the negative impact on satisfaction with leisure. |
| Keywords: | commuting, subjective well-being, mobile coverage, life satisfaction, SOEP, panel data |
| JEL: | I31 J28 R40 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11784 |
| By: | Piotr Lewandowski; Karol Madoń; Albert Park |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a task-adjusted, country-specific measure of workers’ exposure to artificial intelligence (AI) across 103 countries, covering approximately 86% of global employment. Building on the AI Occupational Exposure index by Felten et al. (2021), we map AI-related abilities to worker-level tasks using survey data from PIAAC, STEP, and CULS. We then predict occupational AI exposure in countries lacking survey data using a regression-based approach. Our findings show that accounting for within-occupation task differences significantly amplifies the development gradient in AI exposure. About 47% of cross-country variation is explained by differences in task content, particularly among high-skilled occupations. We attribute these differences primarily to cross-country differences in ICT use intensity, followed by human capital and globalisation-related firm characteristics. We also document rising AI exposure over the past decade, driven largely by changes in task composition. Our results highlight the central role of digital infrastructure and skill use in shaping global AI exposure. |
| Keywords: | tasks, AI, labor, technology, skills |
| JEL: | J21 J23 J24 |
| Date: | 2025–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ibt:wpaper:wp022025 |
| By: | Yarkin, Alexander |
| Abstract: | This paper documents the effects of home-country Internet expansion on immigrants' health and subjective well-being (SWB). Combining data on SWB and health from the European Social Survey (ESS) with data on 3G and overall Internet expansion (ITU and Collins Batholomew), I find that immigrants' SWB and health increase following home-country Internet expansion. This result is observed in both the TWFE, and event study frameworks. The effects are stronger for (i) first-generation immigrants, (ii) those less socially integrated at destination, and (iii) those with stronger family ties to the origins. Thus, while recent evidence points towards negative effects of the Internet and social media on user well-being, the effects are very different for immigrants. |
| Keywords: | Immigration, Internet, Subjective Well-being, Health, Social Networks |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1573 |
| By: | Flavio Calvino; Luca Fontanelli |
| Abstract: | This study explores how French firms use artificial intelligence, leveraging a uniquely detailed and representative dataset with information on the use of specific AI technologies and how AI systems are deployed across different business functions within firms, in 2020 and 2022. The use of AI is still rare, amounting to 6% of firms, and varies by technology, with sectors often specialising in specific technologies and functions. While most firms specialise in a single AI technology applied to a single business function, larger firms adopt multiple technologies for different purposes. Firms adopting AI technologies are generally larger - except for those using natural language-related AI - and tend to be more digitally intensive, though firms leveraging NLG and autonomous movement AI deviate from this pattern. Firm size appears a relevant driver of AI use in business functions requiring integration with tangible processes, while digital capabilities appear particularly relevant for AI applications in business functions more related to intangible ones. AI technologies widely differ in terms of technological interdependencies and applicability, with machine learning for data analysis, automation and data-driven decision making-related AI technologies resulting as being at the core of the AI paradigm. |
| Keywords: | Technology Diffusion, Artificial Intelligence, Business Function, ICT |
| Date: | 2025–04–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssa:lemwps:2025/13 |
| By: | Raissa Fabregas; Laia Navarro-Sola |
| Abstract: | Millions of children worldwide remain out of school due to the high costs of reaching them and a shortage of qualified teachers. Can ICT-based instruction help close this gap and deliver the long-term benefits of traditional schooling? This paper provides causal evidence on the long-term educational and labor market effects of using ICT to expand last-mile access to post-primary education. We focus on Mexico’s TV-schools –physical lower secondary schools that replace most on-site teachers with televised instruction– one of the largest formal mass media-based education models globally, serving over 1.4 million children every year. Exploiting nationwide geographic variation and cohort exposure to TV-school openings during 1980-2000, we find that high exposure to TV-schools increased lower secondary graduation by 8 percentage points, educational attainment by 0.4 years, and it led to a long-term 8% increase in hourly earnings. We show evidence that most TV-school students would have otherwise remained out of school, and that the labor market returns from additional schooling are comparable to those from standard secondary schools. The program benefits both agrarian and more economically diversified areas, with those in the latter experiencing three times higher earning gains. Our findings show that low-tech, scalable educational models can be a cost-effective way to generate significant labor market returns in underserved regions, even before high-tech solutions become widespread. |
| JEL: | I20 J24 O15 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11779 |
| By: | Laura Eline Slot (UMR MoISA - Montpellier Interdisciplinary center on Sustainable Agri-food systems (Social and nutritional sciences) - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - CIHEAM-IAMM - Centre International de Hautes Etudes Agronomiques Méditerranéennes - Institut Agronomique Méditerranéen de Montpellier - CIHEAM - Centre International de Hautes Études Agronomiques Méditerranéennes - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Institut Agro Montpellier - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement); Mechthild Donner (UMR MoISA - Montpellier Interdisciplinary center on Sustainable Agri-food systems (Social and nutritional sciences) - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - CIHEAM-IAMM - Centre International de Hautes Etudes Agronomiques Méditerranéennes - Institut Agronomique Méditerranéen de Montpellier - CIHEAM - Centre International de Hautes Études Agronomiques Méditerranéennes - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Institut Agro Montpellier - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement); Fatima El Hadad-Gauthier (CIHEAM-IAMM - Centre International de Hautes Etudes Agronomiques Méditerranéennes - Institut Agronomique Méditerranéen de Montpellier - CIHEAM - Centre International de Hautes Études Agronomiques Méditerranéennes, UMR MoISA - Montpellier Interdisciplinary center on Sustainable Agri-food systems (Social and nutritional sciences) - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - CIHEAM-IAMM - Centre International de Hautes Etudes Agronomiques Méditerranéennes - Institut Agronomique Méditerranéen de Montpellier - CIHEAM - Centre International de Hautes Études Agronomiques Méditerranéennes - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Institut Agro Montpellier - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement) |
| Abstract: | The expectations of digital technologies in sustainable agricultural development are considerable. However, applying these technologies in agri-food value chains can have downsides, which are still barely studied. The main objectives of this systematic literature review were to discover the state of the art of the research in the use of digital technologies in business models contributing to sustainability in the agri-food sector, and to make recommendations for future research and management practice. In order to bring concepts together and develop a theoretical framework and advance knowledge, performing a literature review is conducive. Here, the commonly-used PRISMA-method was used to develop a systematic literature review. From this review, an overview of business model innovations, and drivers, benefits and drawbacks of digitalisation in agri-food value chains were distinguished. Key themes found in the literature were the effects of COVID-19 on digitalisation and business resilience, the economic sustainability of business models, and the importance of communication technologies in agri-food value chains. This article recommends for future research and management practice to use a framework that looks through a value co-creation and open innovation perspective to the individual business model level and the interaction between (sustainable) business models in local and global food systems. |
| Keywords: | agri-food value chains, business models, digitalisation, sustainability |
| Date: | 2025–03–13 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05006930 |
| By: | Schmidt, Jan-Hendrik; Bartsch, Sebastian Clemens; Adam, Martin; Benlian, Alexander |
| Abstract: | The increasing proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) systems presents new challenges for the future of information systems (IS) development, especially in terms of holding stakeholders accountable for the development and impacts of AI systems. However, current governance tools and methods in IS development, such as AI principles or audits, are often criticized for their ineffectiveness in influencing AI developers’ attitudes and perceptions. Drawing on construal level theory and Toulmin’s model of argumentation, this paper employed a sequential mixed method approach to integrate insights from a randomized online experiment (Study 1) and qualitative interviews (Study 2). This combined approach helped us investigate how different types of accountability arguments affect AI developers’ accountability perceptions. In the online experiment, process accountability arguments were found to be more effective than outcome accountability arguments in enhancing AI developers’ perceived accountability. However, when supported by evidence, both types of accountability arguments prove to be similarly effective. The qualitative study corroborates and complements the quantitative study’s conclusions, revealing that process and outcome accountability emerge as distinct theoretical constructs in AI systems development. The interviews also highlight critical organizational and individual boundary conditions that shape how AI developers perceive their accountability. Together, the results contribute to IS research on algorithmic accountability and IS development by revealing the distinct nature of process and outcome accountability while demonstrating the effectiveness of tailored arguments as governance tools and methods in AI systems development. |
| Date: | 2025–03–24 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dar:wpaper:153713 |