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on Information and Communication Technologies |
| By: | Grenz, Sabrina (Utrecht University); Gregory, Terry (LISER); Lehmer, Florian (IAB Nueremberg) |
| Abstract: | The rapid evolution of technology is reshaping labor markets by altering skill demands and job profiles. This paper introduces a novel skill-based measure of occupational technology intensity -- the Occupational Technology Skill Share (OTSS) -- that distinguishes between manual, digital, and frontier technologies. Using natural language processing, generative AI, and supervised machine learning, we develop an AI-powered skill classification that enriches occupation-linked skill labels with standardized GenAI-generated descriptions and structured indicators of technological content, enabling transparent classification by technology intensity. We compute OTSS for all occupations in the German labor market. For the average worker in 2023, manual technologies account for the largest share of skill content (42\%), followed by digital (38\%) and frontier technologies (20\%). Frontier technologies remain concentrated in specialized occupations, while digital technologies are widespread. Linking these measures to administrative data from 2012–2023 shows a broad shift from manual and digital toward frontier skills across occupations, and reveals a U-shaped relationship between changes in frontier skill intensity and employment growth. |
| Keywords: | artificial intelligence, digitalization, skills, employment growth |
| JEL: | J21 J24 O33 |
| Date: | 2026–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18415 |
| By: | Khalid, Hassam; Ahmad, Khalil; Ali, Amjad |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the role of information technology audits in enhancing audit efficiency and effectiveness, focusing on empirical evidence from United Kingdom firms between 2016 and 2022. As firms become increasingly reliant on digital systems, the integration of information technology audit practices becomes a critical component of both internal and external assurance functions. The research utilizes a panel firm-level dataset and applies econometric techniques, including fixed-effects regression, to evaluate how variables such as automation tools, information technology audit integration, auditor competency, and information technology audit budget influence audit outcomes. The results indicate that practices like automation and integration have a statistically significant positive effect on audit performance. Additionally, budgetary allocation and information technology competency contribute substantially to audit efficiency and effectiveness. However, audit frequency alone does not show a strong correlation, highlighting the importance of strategic integration and audit quality over procedural repetition. The findings have practical implications for policymakers, audit practitioners, and organizations seeking to optimize audit functions in a digital environment. Recommendations include regulatory support for information technology audit adoption, increased investment in audit automation, and upskilling audit professionals in information technology competencies. |
| Keywords: | IT Audit, Audit Efficiency, Audit Effectiveness, Audit Automation |
| JEL: | M4 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:127542 |
| By: | Nidhaleddine Ben Cheikh (ESSCA School of Management); Christophe Rault (University of Orléans) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines how financial inclusion, among other factors, shapes the transition to inclusive and sustainable growth in a sample of 67 countries. We first analyze the heterogeneous and asymmetric relationship between inclusiveness and its main determinants using recent panel quantile regression techniques. Our results suggest that the distributional effect of financial inclusion, institutional quality and ICT diffusion is statistically significant only in the lower tail of the conditional distribution. While both financial inclusion and ICT are detrimental to inclusive growth, institutional quality appears to be conducive to greater shared prosperity. We next examine the existence of mediating effect in the process of inclusiveness using nonlinear panel threshold modelling. Our results highlight the mediating role of financial inclusion in achieving more inclusive and sustainable growth. While ICT infrastructure has a negative impact on growth inclusiveness at low levels of financial inclusion, a positive relationship is found when financial affordability exceeds a certain threshold. Policymakers are called upon to harness the combined impact of financial inclusion, governance quality and ICTs to ensure the inclusiveness of economic growth. |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:1803 |
| By: | Yesigat, Habtamu; Abate, Gashaw T.; Spielman, David J. |
| Abstract: | Ethiopia is making gradual but notable progress toward the digital transformation of its agricultural sector, driven by investments in connectivity, digital infrastructure, and cross-institutional coordination. Recent policy milestones have established an enabling foundation for scale, including the Digital Ethiopia 2025 and Digital Ethiopia 2030, personal data protection regulation and governance frameworks, and national roadmaps that will steer investment and implementation over the next decade—particularly the Digital Agriculture Extension and Advisory Services (DAEAS) roadmap and the Digital Agriculture Roadmap (DAR). However, persistent structural constraints such as limited rural internet coverage, low smartphone penetration, and unreliable electricity continue to shape the pace and equity of adoption. This paper synthesizes Ethiopia’s digital agriculture ecosystem with a focus on technology, data and analytical capacity, and policy environment. In the technology landscape, work is ongoing to develop decision-support applications alongside digital channels for delivering advisory services. Evidence from multiple pilot initiatives suggests these tools can expand outreach cost-effectively and improve the timeliness and relevance of agronomic guidance. The success of various pilot projects, along with valuable lessons from earlier efforts, strong government commitment, and supportive policies, has driven further investment in Ethiopia’s digital ecosystem. Nonetheless, substantial gaps remain in data availability and quality that limits the production of high-quality and context-specific advisory content. In addition, the reach and intensity of extension services needed to translate digital innovation into sustained productivity gains, income and livelihoods is not yet at the level desired. While Ethiopia’s digital agriculture agenda is well-positioned for accelerated scale, its impact will depend on resolving foundational constraints in last-mile connectivity, power reliability, and the institutions and pipelines required for trustworthy data and localized advisory at national scale. |
| Keywords: | assessment; digital agriculture; data; Ethiopia; Africa; Sub-Saharan Africa; Eastern Africa |
| Date: | 2026–01–20 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:prnote:180318 |
| By: | McNeil, Andrew; Soskice, David |
| Abstract: | Fifty per cent of young people in the UK will now go on to university. We focus here not so much on the consequent divisive material inequality but on relational and epistemic inequality, the inequality of respect and esteem adversely felt by the less educated. The huge advances in ICT have radically changed workplaces, creating more relational and ICT-intensive environments, in which social skills typically acquired at universities are central. In response to this we envisage an on-going growth in HE participation, the result of which if sufficiently large over time will be the spreading of respect and esteem. But we argue that success depends on a transformation of the HE system in the UK: we need more 2-year vocational colleges (especially in health, care and education), widely located; and we need 3-year degrees and professional schools to teach students to work cooperatively, in a more multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary way. |
| Keywords: | education; inequality; polarization |
| JEL: | J1 |
| Date: | 2024–07–17 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:137526 |