IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/irapec/v32y2018i2p195-214.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

ICT and income inequality: a cross-national perspective

Author

Listed:
  • Kami Richmond
  • Russell E. Triplett

Abstract

The importance of information and communications technology (ICT) for economic growth and development is widely researched and seemingly well understood, but the effect of such investments on income inequality is less well documented. On the one hand, improvements in infrastructure are expected to expand economic opportunities for previously underserved populations. On the other hand, ICT growth may exacerbate inequality due to differential access and skill premiums. We use panel data from 109 countries during the period 2001–2014 to examine the empirical connection between ICT and income inequality in a cross-national context. Our results suggest that the effect of ICT on income inequality depends both on the specific type of ICT and on the measure of income inequality. In addition, the magnitude of ICT’s effect on income inequality is comparable to that of more traditional forms of economic infrastructure. Finally, we find that the association between ICT and income inequality is conditional on other economic and political characteristics.

Suggested Citation

  • Kami Richmond & Russell E. Triplett, 2018. "ICT and income inequality: a cross-national perspective," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(2), pages 195-214, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:irapec:v:32:y:2018:i:2:p:195-214
    DOI: 10.1080/02692171.2017.1338677
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/02692171.2017.1338677
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/02692171.2017.1338677?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ayesha Afzal & Saba Fazal Firdousi & Ayma Waqar & Minahil Awais, 2022. "The Influence of Internet Penetration on Poverty and Income Inequality," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(3), pages 21582440221, August.
    2. Shi, Zheng, 2023. "The impact of regional ICT development on job quality of the employee in China," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(6).
    3. Mohammad Soltani Delgosha & Tahereh Saheb & Nastaran Hajiheydari, 2021. "Modelling the Asymmetrical Relationships between Digitalisation and Sustainable Competitiveness: A Cross-Country Configurational Analysis," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 23(5), pages 1317-1337, September.
    4. Thanos Fragkandreas, 2022. "Three Decades of Research on Innovation and Inequality: Causal Scenarios, Explanatory Factors, and Suggestions," Working Papers 60, Birkbeck Centre for Innovation Management Research, revised Feb 2022.
    5. Javier Barbero & Ernesto Rodríguez-Crespo, 2022. "Technological, institutional, and geographical peripheries: regional development and risk of poverty in the European regions," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 69(2), pages 311-332, October.
    6. David Hanrahan, 2021. "Digitalization as a Determinant of Tax Revenues in OECD Countries: A Static and Dynamic Panel Data Analysis," Athens Journal of Business & Economics, Athens Institute for Education and Research (ATINER), vol. 7(4), pages 321-348, October.
    7. Yu, Fan & Xiao, De & Chang, Meng-Shiuh, 2021. "The impact of carbon emission trading schemes on urban-rural income inequality in China: A multi-period difference-in-differences method," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    8. Qiu, Leiju & Zhong, Shunbin & Sun, Baowen, 2021. "Blessing or curse? The effect of broadband Internet on China’s inter-city income inequality," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 626-650.
    9. Hussain, Ammar & Batool, Irem & Akbar, Minhas & Nazir, Marina, 2021. "Is ICT an enduring driver of economic growth? Evidence from South Asian economies," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(8).
    10. Nchofoung, Tii N. & Asongu, Simplice A., 2022. "ICT for sustainable development: Global comparative evidence of globalisation thresholds," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(5).
    11. Mohammad Soltani Delgosha & Tahereh Saheb & Nastaran Hajiheydari, 0. "Modelling the Asymmetrical Relationships between Digitalisation and Sustainable Competitiveness: A Cross-Country Configurational Analysis," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-21.
    12. Henri Njangang & Alim Beleck & Sosson Tadadjeu & Brice Kamguia, 2021. "Do ICTs drive wealth inequality? Evidence from a dynamic panel analysis," Working Papers 21/057, European Xtramile Centre of African Studies (EXCAS).
    13. Wanglin Ma & Puneet Vatsa & Hongyun Zheng & Emmanuel Donkor & Victor Owusu, 2023. "Does Adoption of Information and Communication Technology Reduce Objective and Subjective Well-Being Inequality? Evidence from China," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 169(1), pages 55-77, September.
    14. Hermann Ndoya & Simplice A. Asongu, 2022. "Digital divide, globalization and income inequality in sub-Saharan African countries: analysing cross-country heterogeneity," Social Responsibility Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 20(1), pages 1-19, October.
    15. Adams, Samuel & Akobeng, Eric, 2021. "ICT, governance and inequality in Africa," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(10).
    16. Njangang, Henri & Beleck, Alim & Tadadjeu, Sosson & Kamguia, Brice, 2022. "Do ICTs drive wealth inequality? Evidence from a dynamic panel analysis," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(2).
    17. Henri Njangang & Alim Beleck & Sosson Tadadjeu & Brice Kamguia, 2021. "Do ICTs drive wealth inequality? Evidence from a dynamic panel analysis," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 21/057, African Governance and Development Institute..
    18. Samba Diop & Simplice A. Asongu, 2022. "Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) as catalyst for the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs) at the local level in Africa," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 22/084, African Governance and Development Institute..
    19. Dzator, Janet & Acheampong, Alex O. & Appiah-Otoo, Isaac & Dzator, Michael, 2023. "Leveraging digital technology for development: Does ICT contribute to poverty reduction?," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(4).
    20. Adriana Grigorescu & Elena Pelinescu & Amalia Elena Ion & Monica Florica Dutcas, 2021. "Human Capital in Digital Economy: An Empirical Analysis of Central and Eastern European Countries from the European Union," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-21, February.
    21. Herrera, Gabriel Paes & Constantino, Michel & Su, Jen-Je & Naranpanawa, Athula, 2023. "The use of ICTs and income distribution in Brazil: A machine learning explanation using SHAP values," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(8).
    22. Nguyen Van Bon, 2022. "Does Digitalization Widen Income Inequality? A Comparative Assessment for Advanced and Developing Economies," South East European Journal of Economics and Business, Sciendo, vol. 17(2), pages 154-171, December.
    23. Dodik Ariyanto & Ayu Aryista Dewi & Henny Triyana Hasibuan & Rizky Bagus Paramadani, 2022. "The Success of Information Systems and Sustainable Information Society: Measuring the Implementation of a Village Financial System," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-18, March.
    24. Simontinti Das & Amrita Chatterjee, 2021. "Role of ICT Dissemination and Digital Finance in Poverty Eradication and Income Inequality Reduction: A Sub-national Level Study from India," Working Papers 2021-210, Madras School of Economics,Chennai,India.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:irapec:v:32:y:2018:i:2:p:195-214. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/CIRA20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.