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ICT and resilience in times of crisis: evidence from cross-country micro moments data

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  • Bertschek, Irene
  • Polder, Michael
  • Schulte, Patrick

Abstract

ICT-intensive firms are often found to have a better performance than their non-ICT-intensive counterparts. Along with investing in ICT capital they have to adapt their production and business processes in order to reap the potentials implied by the use of ICT. Are these firms also more resilient in times of crisis? We study this question by exploiting a novel and unique data set from the Micro Moments Database. Covering 12 countries, 7 industries and the period from 2001 to 2010, the data allow us to distinguish between ICT-intensive and non-ICT-intensive firms within industries. We find evidence that indeed during the crisis in 2008 and 2009, ICT-intensive firms were hit less hard with respect to their productivity. This holds in particular for firms from service industries. Moreover, ICT-intensive firms were also more successful in introducing process innovations during that period which could explain their better productivity performance compared to non-ICT intensive firms.

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  • Bertschek, Irene & Polder, Michael & Schulte, Patrick, 2019. "ICT and resilience in times of crisis: evidence from cross-country micro moments data," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 28(8), pages 759-774.
  • Handle: RePEc:zbw:espost:225070
    DOI: 10.1080/10438599.2018.1557417
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    3. Papaioannou, Sotiris K., 2023. "ICT and economic resilience: Evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
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    6. Bertschek, Irene & Erdsiek, Daniel, 2020. "Soloselbstständigkeit in der Corona-Krise: Digitalisierung hilft bei der Bewältigung der Krise," ZEW Expert Briefs 20-08, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
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    8. Bürgel, Tobias R. & Hiebl, Martin R.W. & Pielsticker, David I., 2023. "Digitalization and entrepreneurial firms' resilience to pandemic crises: Evidence from COVID-19 and the German Mittelstand," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 186(PA).
    9. Zimmermann Volker & Köhler-Geib Fritzi, 2023. "Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Different Groups of SMEs in Germany and Their Recovery," Intereconomics: Review of European Economic Policy, Sciendo, vol. 58(6), pages 333-341, December.
    10. Eggenberger, Christian & Backes-Gellner, Uschi, 2023. "IT skills, occupation specificity and job separations," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    11. Alhusen, Harm & Bennat, Tatjana & Bizer, Kilian & Cantner, Uwe & Horstmann, Elaine & Kalthaus, Martin & Proeger, Till & Sternberg, Rolf G. & Töpfer, Stefan, 2019. "Measuring the "doing-using-interacting mode" of innovation in SMEs - A qualitative approach," ifh Working Papers 23/2019, Volkswirtschaftliches Institut für Mittelstand und Handwerk an der Universität Göttingen (ifh).
    12. Iman Cheratian & Saleh Goltabar & Mohammad Reza Farzanegan, 2022. "Survival Strategies under Sanctions: Firm-Level Evidence from Iran," CESifo Working Paper Series 9568, CESifo.
    13. Irene Bertschek, 2020. "Digitalisierung — der Corona-Impfstoff für die Wirtschaft," Wirtschaftsdienst, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 100(9), pages 653-656, September.
    14. Schiersch, Alexander & Duso, Tomaso, 2023. "Let's Switch to the Cloud: Cloud Adoption and its Effect on IT Investment and Productivity," VfS Annual Conference 2023 (Regensburg): Growth and the "sociale Frage" 277571, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    15. Axenbeck, Janna & Bertschek, Irene & Breithaupt, Patrick & Erdsiek, Daniel, 2023. "Firm digitalisation and mobility - Do Covid-19-related changes persist?," ZEW Discussion Papers 23-011, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    16. Sonja Brlečić Valčić & Anita Peša & Dijana Čičin-Šain, 2022. "Analysis of the Eurozone’s Resilience to Crises and Disturbances in the Context of EU Development Strategies—Contemporary Approach Using Anfis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-28, November.
    17. Anderton, Robert & Jarvis, Valerie & Labhard, Vincent & Morgan, Julian & Petroulakis, Filippos & Vivian, Lara, 2020. "Virtually everywhere? Digitalisation and the euro area and EU economies," Occasional Paper Series 244, European Central Bank.
    18. Ben Yahmed, Sarra & Berlingieri, Francesco & Brüll, Eduard, 2022. "Adjustments of local labour markets to the COVID-19 crisis: The role of digitalisation and working-from-home," ZEW Discussion Papers 22-031, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    19. Spyros Arvanitis & Euripidis Loukis, 2020. "Reduction of ICT Investment Due to the 2008 Economic Crisis and ICT-Enabled Innovation Performance of Firms," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 11(1), pages 1-27, March.
    20. Achim Wambach, 2021. "Besseres Marktdesign im Gesundheitswesen," Wirtschaftsdienst, Springer;ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 101(8), pages 590-593, August.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    ICT; innovation; productivity; economic crisis; resilience; meso-level data;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H12 - Public Economics - - Structure and Scope of Government - - - Crisis Management
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • 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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