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on Information and Communication Technologies |
| By: | Andrea Gazzani (Bank of Italy); Filippo Natoli (Bank of Italy) |
| Abstract: | Using detailed data on the artificial intelligence (AI) content of U.S. patents from 1980 to 2019, we construct a novel monthly measure of AI intensity in innovation and identify AI related technology shocks. These shocks generate delayed increases in total factor productivity, output, employment, hours, and wages, alongside persistent declines in consumer prices, consistent with a positive supply shock. Although AI-intensive patents largely fall within the broader ICT and automation domains, they stand out as higher-quality innovations, attracting more citations and exhibiting greater technological and market value. AI shocks consistently have substantially larger aggregate effects than broader ICT or automation shocks, suggesting that AI has had a particularly high-impact role in the ICT revolution. Unlike general technology shocks, however, AI shocks reduce the labor share and increase wealth inequality, indicating that their gains are not distributed evenly across the economy. To connect these historical findings to the most recent wave of innovation, we develop a new time series of Generative-AI patents within the U.S. patent universe. A shock based exclusively on Gen-AI patents produces the same qualitative supply-side effects as broader AI shocks, linking the macroeconomic consequences of earlier AI innovation to those of the emerging Generative-AI era. |
| Keywords: | artificial intelligence, technology shocks, local projections, business cycle, patents |
| JEL: | E32 C32 C36 O33 O34 |
| Date: | 2026–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bdi:wptemi:td_1542_26 |
| By: | Zdraveski, Dejan; Sotiroski, Kosta; Janeska, Margarita; Avramovski, Petar |
| Abstract: | Higher education is one of the pillars of development and prosperity of any society. Its role has become even more critical in the contemporary era, characterized by a globalized economy and an increasingly mobile workforce driven by rapid technological advancements. Consequently, the integration of modern information technologies-such as artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and big data-into higher education is no longer optional but a necessity. One of the models that allows universities to access large amounts of information resources is Cloud Computing. This is particularly significant for developing countries, where cloud-based solutions facilitate quick and affordable access to modern educational tools. Built upon innovations such as virtualization and Internet technologies, cloud computing provides higher education institutions with enhanced opportunities for teaching, learning, and research. The main goal of this paper is, on the one hand, to highlight the benefits of using Cloud tools in higher education, and on the other hand, to identify the problems and risks that arise when using these tools. To achieve this goal will be used data from a survey conducted across the majority of universities in the Republic of North Macedonia. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses will be presented, focusing on the advantages, problems, and risks of adopting cloud computing in higher education. A Likert scale was used to assess the benefits and challenges, while the analysis of these issues will provide an answer to the effect of using Cloud computing tools in higher education. The findings of this analysis contribute to a better understanding of the overall impact of cloud computing tools on higher education in the Republic of North Macedonia. |
| Keywords: | cloud computing, high education, information resources, benefits, challenges |
| JEL: | I23 I25 D83 L86 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:esconf:343414 |
| By: | Jarvis, Lauren |
| Abstract: | The international humanitarian system’s localization agenda increasingly relies on digital technologies to coordinate local and global actors. While NGO literature emphasizes digital literacy (DL) as the primary driver of transformative digital integration, this study examines how environmental constraints shape the relationship between DL and NGO digital integration outcomes. Through a comparative analysis of 16 Nigerian NGOs across infrastructure-rich Ogun State and infrastructure-poor Borno State, findings reveal that environmental barriers create a skill-implementation gap where even highly skilled NGOs cannot translate capabilities into transformative integration due to three barriers: infrastructure gaps, bandwidth ceilings, and beneficiary connectivity limitations. Borno NGOs consequently experienced constraints in maintaining digitally mediated accountability to donors, beneficiaries, other NGOs, and staff. These findings reveal that digital skill building alone cannot address humanitarian accountability challenges without parallel infrastructure development. |
| Keywords: | accountability;digital technologies;international humanitarian system;Nigeria;non-governmental organizations |
| JEL: | J50 |
| Date: | 2026–08–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:140912 |
| By: | Osmanbegović, Edin; Pirić, Nedžad |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this research is to identify the influence of the institutional framework on public digital services in the business sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina. By analyzing the research findings, it can be confirmed that the determinants of the institutional framework have a significant impact on the development and accessibility of digital public services aimed at the business community. More specifically, the institutional framework makes a unique and important contribution to predicting the availability, efficiency, and quality of digital services essential for business operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina's digital economy. Based on the theoretical foundations, empirical analyses, and research results, it can be concluded that the institutional framework substantially affects the business sector and the extent to which it can benefit from public digital administration services. The research findings further confirmed a high level of dissatisfaction among businesses regarding institutional support for the digitalization of public services, as well as a generally negative perception of investment efforts by municipalities, cantonal authorities, and state-level institutions in the development of ICT infrastructure aimed at facilitating business operations. The study also highlighted the need to improve the legislative and regulatory framework to create conditions for faster development of digital services and their alignment with the needs of the business sector. The research sample consisted of 171 respondents (n = 171) from Bosnia and Herzegovina, selected using the snowball sampling method. The basic motive for the realization of this research is the fact that there is no relevant research in Bosnia and Herzegovina that focuses on the impact of the institutional framework on public digital services for the business sector. |
| Keywords: | institutions and growth, government policy, entrepreneurship |
| JEL: | O43 O38 L26 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:esconf:343398 |
| By: | Sharma, Komal; Rathi, Deepika; Bhagat, Jainish (P P Savani University); MEHTA, RONAK AJAYKUMAR |
| Abstract: | Purpose – This study examines how the adoption of Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies – the Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data Analytics (BDA), Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML), Blockchain (BCT), and Digital Twin (DTW) – influences the supply chain resilience (SCR) of Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), through the mediating roles of supply chain visibility (SCV), supply chain agility (SCA), and supply chain collaboration (SCC), and the moderating role of organizational readiness (ORGREAD). Design/methodology/approach – A structural model integrating the Resource-Based View and the Dynamic Capabilities View was tested using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) on survey data from 260 supply chain, operations, procurement, and digital-transformation executives in OEM firms across the automotive, electronics/electrical, industrial machinery, aerospace, and consumer-durables sectors. I4.0 technology adoption (I4ADOPT) is modelled as a second-order construct formed by five first-order technology dimensions; supply chain resilience is modelled as a second-order construct reflecting robustness, redundancy, flexibility, and recovery. The structural model was estimated with 2, 000-sample nonparametric bootstrapping. Findings – I4ADOPT significantly and positively predicted SCV (β = 0.487, p < .001), SCA (β = 0.254, p < .001), and SCC (β = 0.193, p < .01), and exerted a significant direct effect on SCR (β = 0.175, p < .01). SCV, SCA, and SCC each significantly predicted SCR (β = 0.237, 0.354, and 0.240 respectively, all p < .001) and significantly, partially mediated the I4ADOPT–SCR relationship. SCV additionally strengthened both SCA (β = 0.335) and SCC (β = 0.308). Organizational readiness had a significant positive direct association with both SCV (β = 0.169) and SCA (β = 0.205), but its hypothesized moderating (interaction) effect on the I4ADOPT–SCV and I4ADOPT–SCA relationships was not statistically supported. The model explained 58.2% of the variance in supply chain resilience, and all measurement-model reliability, validity, and model-fit criteria were satisfied (SRMR = 0.013). Practical implications – OEM managers should prioritise IoT- and analytics-led visibility investment as the entry point of a digital resilience strategy, since visibility significantly amplifies agility and collaboration in addition to its own direct effect on resilience, and should invest in organizational readiness (leadership commitment, digital skills, process maturity) as a parallel, direct driver of these capabilities rather than solely as a moderating lever. |
| Date: | 2026–09–17 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:fkprh_v1 |
| By: | Omer Siddique (Pakistan Institute of Development Economics) |
| Abstract: | The chronically low productivity in Pakistan is due to structural issues. Rather than improving productivity, economic growth in Pakistan has historically relied on factor accumulation rather than productivity growth. Total factor productivity (TFP) growth in Pakistan has been on a declining trend since the 1970s, except for a few years, especially in the 1980s and 1990s. Pakistan undertook liberalization and deregulation policies during these decades, which shows that productivity outcomes respond to policy. At the sectoral level, productivity of the services sector and technology-based activities is higher than that of manufacturing and agriculture, both of which have historically enjoyed protection and various incentives. More alarmingly, however, the sectors that have been designated export-oriented often show low or negative TFP growth. It implies that a protectionist regime has a high cost in terms of lower productivity and lower exports. The macroeconomic literature on productivity shows that trade openness, financial sector depth, and macroeconomic stability are the primary determinants of productivity growth in Pakistan. On the other hand, IMF programs, which come with stringent conditionalities, and infrastructure dampen productivity growth. At the firm level, using ICT, skills, competition, and quality certification are the main determinants of productivity growth. The main message of the research on productivity by the World Bank, IMF, PIDE, and SBP is that resource misallocation, regulatory burden, and weak capabilities hamper productivity and economic growth in Pakistan. Addressing these constraints requires a coordinated and firm reform effort. Any reform effort must focus on the removal of distortionary regulatory and energy-sector bottlenecks in the short term, institutional strengthening in state-owned enterprises, agriculture, and services in the medium term, and investment in human capital, R&D, and global value chain integration in the long t... |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pid:kbrief:2026:150 |
| By: | Tomasz Kopczewski (University of Warsaw, Faculty of Economic Sciences); Jan Lisicki (University of Warsaw, Faculty of Economic Sciences) |
| Abstract: | Economic analysis of information explains how existing knowledge is distributed, revealed, and used, while the economics of innovation treats new ideas as outcomes of search and recombination. This paper examines a distinct role of communication in knowledge production: interaction can change the course of search itself. We define the mechanism as adaptive feedback, in which one participant responds to the current state of another participant's reasoning and thereby alters the directions subsequently explored. The resulting idea need not be contained in the feedback or previously possessed by either participant. In stronger cases, interaction can change the representation of the problem and make previously unavailable hypotheses accessible. The paper distinguishes this generative role of interaction from information transmission and access to others' knowledge. It argues that institutions shape knowledge production through both information structure and interaction structure, including the timing of interaction and the balance between independent search and mutual influence. |
| Keywords: | communication, knowledge production, generative interaction, search, innovation, problem representation |
| JEL: | D83 O31 O32 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:war:wpaper:2026-30 |
| By: | Eman Qadeer (Pakistan Institute of Development Economics) |
| Abstract: | Given the omnipresence of screens in the contemporary world, children today are at a heightened risk of experiencing the negative implications of using mobile phones and other electronic gadgets. The purpose of this knowledge brief is to sift through the relevant literature to shed some light on how exposure to screens can impact children's (up to 12 years of age) overall well-being.The data suggests that mobile usage can boost learning results, communication, and social connection, but may also lead to concerns such as mental discomfort, disrupted sleep, limited physical activity, and impaired family interactions when use is excessive or poorly managed. Importantly children's unique traits and gender determine how they engage with mobile phones and how these technologies affect their development. The findings indicate a dynamic, two-way relationship in which children influence technology use, while technology use impacts their developmental outcomes. Given that children represent society's future human capital, learning how to balance the benefits and risks of mobile phones is vital. This knowledge brief provides an evidence-informed foundation to help debates about child well-being in increasingly digitalised cultures. |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pid:kbrief:2026:156 |