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on Information and Communication Technologies |
| By: | Arntz, Melanie; Findeisen, Sebastian; Maurer, Stephan; Schlenker, Oliver |
| Abstract: | This study quantifies the relationship between workplace digitalization, i.e., the increasing use of frontier technologies, and workers' health outcomes using novel and representative German linked employer-employee data. Based on changes in individual-level use of technologies between 2011 and 2019, we find that digitalization induces similar shifts into more complex and service-oriented tasks across all workers, but exacerbates health inequality between cognitive and manual workers. Unlike more mature, computer-based technologies, frontier technologies of the recent technology wave substantially lower manual workers' subjective health and increase sick leave, while leaving cognitive workers unaffected. We provide evidence that the effects are mitigated in firms that provide training and assistance in the adjustment process for workers. |
| Keywords: | health, inequality, technology, machines, automation, tasks, capital-labor substitution |
| JEL: | I14 J21 J23 J24 O33 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:cexwps:289440&r=ict |
| By: | Serafica, Ramonette B.; Oren, Queen Cel A. |
| Abstract: | Across different metrics, the Philippines continues to demonstrate subpar performance in information and communications technology (ICT) compared to other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and countries at the same level of development. The quality of the country’s ICT regulatory environment, composed of regulatory authority, regulatory mandate, regulatory regime, and competition model, is significantly below what is considered international best practice, consequently impeding the use of various technological solutions available to bridge the gap in digital inequality. Although significant policy changes have recently been introduced, more reforms are needed to achieve inclusive and accelerated digital connectivity. Priorities include reforming the licensing regime, formulating a spectrum policy and plan, and reinventing the National Telecommunications Commission to ensure regulatory independence. |
| Keywords: | ICT;telecommunications;digital;regulation;broadband;information and communications technology |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:phd:rpseri:rps_2024-02&r=ict |
| By: | Flavia Alves |
| Abstract: | How do "Information and Communication Technologies" (ICTs) reshape the banking industry and banking habits? Using panel data containing detailed banking statements for more than 25, 000 public and private bank branches distributed among over 3, 500 municipalities of Brazil, I show that, following the rollout of the 4G mobile network, 6% of private banks exit the municipalities while their branches shrink on average 11% within five years of the introduction of this technology compared to municipalities that do not have it. By contrast, public banks are not reactive to better mobile connectivity. Credit, savings, and deposits also display different patterns in response to better mobile network in public and private banks. Globally, these results suggest that the internet has been deeply reshaping the banking industry and modifying how credit and savings are distributed to the population with different levels of internet access, with important policy implications for both the industry and consumers. |
| Keywords: | ICT, internet, 4G mobile network, banks, credit, savings, financial inclusion, competition |
| JEL: | D14 G21 G40 L10 L86 |
| Date: | 2024–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bis:biswps:1174&r=ict |
| By: | Yun Gao (Hong Kong Monetary Authority); Kenichi Ueda (University of Tokyo) |
| Abstract: | We analyze the loan market under symmetrically imperfect information: the project quality is unknown to both a bank and a firm, but it is revealed with noise to the bank with cost. We show that there are three equilibria, that is, (i) a screening and separating equilibrium, (ii) a non-screening and pooling equilibrium, and (iii) a non-screening, cheap-information based separating equilibrium. They emerge depending on parameter values and are all socially optimal. In particular, the screening and separating equilibrium emerges when the average project quality is low, or when the international interest rate is high. Policies, such as credit easing, business subsidy, and public loan guarantees, make banks reduce or even stop screening. Then, more capital is allocated to unviable firms, resulting in a smaller national income and lower social welfare. |
| Date: | 2024–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cfi:fseres:cf580&r=ict |
| By: | Klaus Altendorfer; Wolfgang Seiringer; Thomas Felberbauer; Balwin Bokor; Fabian Brockmann |
| Abstract: | In many supply chains, the current efforts at digitalization have led to improved information exchanges between manufacturers and their customers. Specifically, demand forecasts are often provided by the customers and regularly updated as the related customer information improves. In this paper, we investigate the influence of forecast updates on the production planning method of Material Requirements Planning (MRP). A simulation study was carried out to assess how updates in information affect the setting of planning parameters in a rolling horizon MRP planned production system. An intuitive result is that information updates lead to disturbances in the production orders for the MRP standard, and, therefore, an extension for MRP to mitigate these effects is developed. A large numerical simulation experiment shows that the MRP safety stock exploitation heuristic, that has been developed, leads to significantly improved results as far as inventory and backorder costs are concerned. An interesting result is that the fixed-order-quantity lotsizing policy performs - in most instances - better than the fixed-order-period lotsizing policy, when periodic forecast updates occur. In addition, the simulation study shows that underestimating demand is marginally more costly than overestimating it, based on the comparative analysis of all instances. Furthermore, the results indicate that the MRP safety stock exploitation heuristic can mitigate the negative effects of biased forecasts. |
| Date: | 2024–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2403.11010&r=ict |
| By: | Goux, Dominique (CREST-INSEE); Maurin, Eric (Paris School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Driven by new information technologies, working from home has experienced unprecedented growth since the COVID pandemic. We contribute to the debate on the consequences of this development by drawing on a French reform conducted in 2017, with the aim of facilitating telework agreements between employers and employees. We show that the reform was followed by a boom in working from home, particularly in mid-level occupations. On the other hand, employees in lower-level occupations were virtually unaffected. By comparing occupational groups before and after the reform, in firms that have signed telework agreements and in firms that have not, we find that the development of working from home coincides with a significant deterioration in the health status of mid-level employees, particularly men. Wages and number hours worked, on the other hand, remain largely unaffected. |
| Keywords: | occupational level, teleworking, health status, working from home |
| JEL: | J81 J53 I19 |
| Date: | 2024–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16848&r=ict |