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ICT Externalities: Evidence from cross country data

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  • Meijers, Huub

    (UNU-MERIT)

Abstract

This paper reports the findings of an empirical study on the external effects of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) on economic growth and productivity at an aggregate level. It focuses on possible network effects and spillovers emerging as externalities from investments in ICT. The existence of externalities is well described in theoretical work however empirical evidence is scarce. By using time series at the macro level for a panel of 15 countries I find positive externalities for investments in IT software and in telecommunication equipment, but not for IT hardware. The analysis, which accounts for cyclical effects and also takes external effects from non-ICT factors into account, points at considerable lags between the time of investing in these technologies and the time at which the externalities arise. Taking these externality effects into account, the paper shows that the impact of ICT on productivity is almost twice as high as compared to a model that does not include such effects.

Suggested Citation

  • Meijers, Huub, 2007. "ICT Externalities: Evidence from cross country data," MERIT Working Papers 2007-021, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    • Handle: RePEc:unm:unumer:2007021
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    File URL: https://www.merit.unu.edu/publications/wppdf/2007/wp2007-021.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Kais Saidi & Lobna Hassen & M. Hammami, 2015. "Econometric Analysis of the Relationship Between ICT and Economic Growth in Tunisia," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 6(4), pages 1191-1206, December.
    2. Georg Erber & Reinhard Madlener, 2007. "Nested Stochastic Possibility Frontiers with Heterogeneous Capital Inputs," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 720, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    3. Kim, Keungoui & Bounfour, Ahmed & Nonnis, Alberto & Özaygen, Altay, 2021. "Measuring ICT externalities and their contribution to productivity: A bilateral trade based approach," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(2).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Productivity; Network Effects; Spillovers; Information and Communication Technologies; Total Factor Productivity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • D85 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Network Formation
    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O47 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Empirical Studies of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence

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