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on Information and Communication Technologies |
| By: | Bick, Alexander; Blandin, Adam; Deming, David |
| Abstract: | Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is a potentially important new technology, but its impact on the economy depends on the speed and intensity of adoption. This paper reports results from a series of nationally representative U.S.\ surveys of generative AI use at work and at home. As of late 2024, nearly 40 percent of the U.S.\ population age 18-64 uses generative AI. 23 percent of employed respondents had used generative AI for work at least once in the previous week, and 9 percent used it every work day. Relative to each technology's first mass-market product launch, work adoption of generative AI has been as fast as the personal computer (PC), and overall adoption has been faster than either PCs or the internet. Generative AI and PCs have very similar early adoption patterns by education, occupation, and other characteristics. Between 1 and 5 percent of all work hours are currently assisted by generative AI, and respondents report time savings equivalent to 1.4 percent of total work hours. This suggests that substantial productivity gains from generative AI are possible. |
| Keywords: | Employment; Technology adoption; Generative AI |
| JEL: | J24 O33 |
| Date: | 2024–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:19515 |
| By: | Maredia, Mywish K.; Olubunmi, Adefemi; Olabisi, Michael |
| Abstract: | This paper examines gender disparities in mobile technology access and productive use along Nigeria’s cowpea value chain using a nationally representative survey of nearly 19, 000 value chain actors, including farmers, assemblers, wholesalers, and retailers. While gender gaps in basic mobile phone ownership are relatively modest, substantially larger gaps emerge in smartphone ownership and, more importantly, in business-oriented use of mobile technologies. Women are significantly less likely than men to use phones for making or receiving business orders, particularly through app-based or data-intensive platforms, even when they own mobile devices. The findings provide evidence of a “second-level digital divide, ” where access to technology does not translate into equivalent economic engagement. The analysis further shows that these disparities vary across value chain segments and regions, reflecting differences in market integration, commercialization, and gender norms. The study highlights the importance of moving beyond access-based measures of digital inclusion and emphasizes the need for policies that strengthen women’s digital skills, institutional support, and productive use of technology in agricultural markets. |
| Keywords: | International Development |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea26:404646 |
| By: | Silvia Dominguez-Martinez (University of Amsterdam); Randolph Sloof (University of Amsterdam) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates how managers choose between communication and delegation when informed workers may have different objectives. We study a laboratory principal-agent environment in which only the worker observes the payoff-relevant state of the world. In three equally likely states, preferences are aligned; in a fourth state, preferences are opposed. The ex ante degree of interest alignment is exogenously varied via the likelihood that the conflict state occurs. We allow managers either to retain authority, delegate authority, or restrict the worker’s discretion under delegation. We find that the manager’s choice between communication and delegation per se exhibits no significant monotone relationship with interest alignment, but conditional on delegation managers impose tighter restrictions when interests become less aligned. Under communication, workers almost always communicate truthfully when interests are aligned, but distort information when interests conflict; overall, messages become more informative and influential as ex ante interest alignment increases. The comparison with equilibrium benchmarks is nuanced: communication is more informative than the pure-strategy benchmarks predict, while the mixed-strategy equilibrium benchmark accounts for part of the observed aggregate pattern. The remaining communication patterns are qualitatively consistent with limited behavioral heterogeneity, especially a modest role for credulous managers, suggesting that small departures from the fully strategic benchmark may help sustain informative communication even when workers remain largely strategic. Overall, managers often retain authority and rely on communication; when they delegate, restrictions increase as interests become less aligned. Communication remains viable because workers distort information mainly when interests actually conflict. |
| Keywords: | Delegation, Communication, Laboratory Experiment, Organizational Economics |
| JEL: | C90 D80 M20 |
| Date: | 2026–08–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20260047 |