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Productivity and ICT: A Review of the Evidence

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Author Info
Mirko Draca
Raffaella Sadun
John Van Reenen

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Abstract

We survey the micro and macro literature on the impact of Information and CommunicationTechnologies (ICTs) on productivity. The "Solow Paradox" of the absence of an impact ofICT on productivity no longer holds, if it ever did. Both growth accounting and econometricevidence suggest an important role for ICTs in accounting for productivity. In fact, theempirical estimates suggest a much larger impact of ICT on productivity than would beexpected from the standard neoclassical model that we focus on. We discuss the variousexplanations for these results, including the popular notion of complementary organizationalcapital. Finally, we offer suggestions for where the literature needs to go.

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Paper provided by Centre for Economic Performance, LSE in its series CEP Discussion Papers with number dp0749.

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Date of creation: Aug 2006
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Handle: RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp0749

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Related research
Keywords: ICT; productivity; organisation;

Find related papers by JEL classification:
E22 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomics: Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Capital; Investment; Capacity
E23 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomics: Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Production
F1 - International Economics - - Trade
O11 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Mika Maliranta & Rita Asplund, 2007. "Training and Hiring Strategies to Improve Firm Performance," Discussion Papers 1105, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy. [Downloadable!]
  2. Carolina Castaldi & Giovanni Dosi, 2008. "Technical Change and Economic Growth: Some Lessons from Secular Patterns and Some Conjectures on the Current Impact of ICT Technology," LEM Papers Series 2008/01, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy. [Downloadable!]
  3. Simon Condliffe & William Latham & Christian Le Bas & Frédéric Miribel, 2008. "Agglomeration Economies within IT-Producing and IT-Consuming Industries in U.S. Regions," Working Papers 08-24, University of Delaware, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  4. Luigi Benfratello & Tiziano Razzolini & Alessandro Sembenelli, 2009. "Does ICT Investment Spur or Hamper Offshoring? Empirical Evidence from Microdata," Working Papers 5, University of Torino, Department of Economics and Public Finance "G. Prato". [Downloadable!]
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