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on Information and Communication Technologies |
| By: | Steimer, Henrike (LMU Munich) |
| Abstract: | Does access to the broadband internet stimulate firm growth? In this paper, I analyze within-firm growth of established firms caused by the access to faster internet using geocoded social-security data. I identify firm responses to the access to the first generation of broadband internet and later speed upgrades by exploiting technological peculiarities of the broadband internet network. I find that firms with access to the first generation of broadband internet grow more slowly in employment while keeping their output growth constant. They reduce the share of low-skilled employment in their workforce. Further, I find that firms that receive access to later speed upgrades grow more in revenues and employment than firms that got access to the first generation of broadband internet but not to the upgrades. When getting access to higher internet speed, firms over-proportionally increase medium-skilled employment. |
| Keywords: | ICT; internet; firm growth; skill-bias; technology; |
| JEL: | D22 J23 O33 |
| Date: | 2020–10–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rco:dpaper:258&r= |
| By: | Francesca Borgonovi (Social Research Institute, Institute of Education, University College London, 55-59 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0NU, UK); Magdalena Pokropek (Educational Research Institute (IBE), ul. Górczewska 8, 01-180 Warszawa, Poland) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the evolution of 15-year-old students’ use of ICT for leisure and for learning at school and at home between 2009 and 2018. It also considers how the association between different forms of ICT use and reading achievement evolved over the same period. Results indicate that in 2018 15-year-old students used ICT for leisure and for learning more than their counterparts did in 2009 and that the increase was especially marked when considering ICT used for learning (both at school and at home). Boys increased their use of ICT for leisure and their use of ICT for learning at school more than girls did. Trends in ICT use did not differ by socio-economic condition. Over the same period, no quantitatively meaningful changes in reading achievement were observed. In line with the previous literature, we find that the association between different forms of ICT use and reading achievement takes an inverted U shape, with students engaging in low and high levels of use having lower levels of reading achievement than students engaged in medium levels of use. Over time, the association between different uses of ICT and reading achievement changed and became more positive at low levels of use and less negative at high levels of use. However, the large and rapid increases in levels of use observed between 2009 and 2018 led to more students being located in the ‘high levels of use’ category. The cumulative, contrasting effects of changes in levels of use and changes in the association between ICT use and reading achievement led to stable levels of achievement at the population level. |
| Keywords: | ICT use; reading achievement; trends; cross-country; PISA |
| JEL: | I20 I24 I26 |
| Date: | 2021–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qss:dqsswp:2114&r= |
| By: | Zinovyev, Elizaveta; Reule, Raphael C. G.; Härdle, Wolfgang |
| Abstract: | Smart Contracts are commonly considered to be an important component or even a key to many business solutions in an immense variety of sectors and promises to securely increase their individual efficiency in an ever more digitized environment. Introduced in the early 1990's, the technology has gained a lot of attention with its application to blockchain technology to an extent, that can be considered a veritable hype. Reflecting the growing institutional interest, this intertwined exploratory study between statistics, information technology, and law contrasts these idealistic stories with the data reality and provides a mandatory step of understanding the matter, before any further relevant applications are discussed as being "factually" able to replace traditional constructions. Besides fundamental flaws and application difficulties of currently employed Smart Contracts, the technological drive and enthusiasm backing it may however serve as a jump-off board for future developments thrusting well in the presently unshakeable traditional structures. |
| Keywords: | Cryptocurrency,Smart Contract,Ethereum,CRIX |
| JEL: | G02 G11 G12 G14 G15 G23 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:irtgdp:2021004&r= |
| By: | Javier Suarez-Alvarez |
| Abstract: | Digital technologies have changed how people interact with information. PISA data shows that 15-year-olds increasingly read online to fulfil information needs (e.g. online news versus newspapers). At the same time, technological changes in the digitalisation of communication continue to reshape people’s habits (e.g. chats online versus emails). Fifteen-year-olds’ total online consumption has risen from 21 hours a week in PISA 2012 to 35 hours per week in PISA 2018 – almost the equivalent of an average adult workweek in OECD countries. The massive information flow that characterises the digital era demands that readers be able to distinguish between fact and opinion, and learn strategies to detect biased information and malicious content such as phishing emails or fake news. |
| Date: | 2021–05–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:eduddd:113-en&r= |
| By: | Joël Cariolle (FERDI - Fondation pour les Etudes et Recherches sur le Développement International); Maëlan Le Goff (Banque de France - Banque de France - Banque de France) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we study the spatial spillover effects of internet usage on manufacturing output. Using repeated cross-section datasets of 40,154 manufacturing firms located in 91 developing and transition economies, we adopt an original shift-share instrumental variable setup , and find that a greater diffusion of email technology in locations increases manufacturing firm's sales and productivity. This result is driven by local email dissemination within industries, supporting the existence of network or knowledge spillover effects among proximate firms, engaged in similar or interlinked activities. By contrast, the dissemination of email technology across other industries located in the same place reduces manufacturing firms' performance. However, these inter-industry spillovers are U-shaped, indicating that they remain negative below a local email incidence threshold established at approximately 50% of the local universe of firms, and turn positive only once this threshold is reached. Last, we find that positive Internet spillovers are mediated by firm's own use of the internet technology, and by its absorptive capacity, reflected by its share of skilled production workers, its multi-plant status, and its maturity. |
| Keywords: | Connectivity,internet,spillovers,manufactures,industrialisation |
| Date: | 2021–04–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-03201735&r= |
| By: | Oh, Eun Young (University of Portsmouth); Rosenkranz, Peter (Asian Development Bank) |
| Abstract: | To explore the determinants of peer-to-peer (P2P) lending expansion, this study examines factors that impact P2P lending using a sample of 62 economies over the period 2015–2017. We investigate the effects of financial development and financial literacy on the expansion of P2P lending. The level of development of financial institutions is assessed by access, efficiency, and depth. We find that financial institutions’ efficiency, financial literacy, and lower branch and ATM penetration are positively related with the expansion of P2P lending. This finding suggests that P2P lending can fill funding gaps in economies where traditional financial institutions may be less available, and thus promote financial inclusion. We also find that better information technology infrastructure and high new business density are positively associated with the expansion of P2P lending, suggesting that physical infrastructure is an essential prerequisite for it, while this is more likely to happen in dynamic business environments. |
| Keywords: | financial development; financial literacy; fintech; peer-to-peer lending |
| JEL: | E51 G23 G53 N20 O33 |
| Date: | 2020–03–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:adbewp:0613&r= |
| By: | Luca J. Santos; Alessandro V. M. Oliveira, Dante M. Aldrighi |
| Abstract: | The economic downturn and the air travel crisis triggered by the recent Coronavirus pandemic pose a substantial threat to many emerging economies’ new consuming class. In Brazil, considerable improvements in social inclusion have fostered the emergence of hundreds of thousands of first-time fliers in the past decades. We propose a methodology for identifying air transport markets characterized by greater social inclusion, using indicators of the local economy’s income distribution, credit availability, and access to the internet. We perform an empirical analysis of the air travel demand’s plunge since the pandemics, differentiating markets by their social inclusion intensity. Controlling for the potential endogeneity stemming from the spread of the COVID-19 through air travel, our results suggest that regional routes–but not routes feeding larger airports–are among the most impacted markets. Besides, we estimate that a market segment with one percent higher social inclusion is associated with a 0.9 percent more pronounced decline in demand during the pandemic. Therefore, markets that have benefited from greater social inclusion in the country are the most vulnerable to the current crisis. |
| Keywords: | air transport demand; emerging markets; COVID-19; LASSO regression |
| JEL: | D22 L11 L93 |
| Date: | 2021–04–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spa:wpaper:2021wpecon14&r= |
| By: | Maria Mercanti-Guérin (IAE Paris - Sorbonne Business School) |
| Abstract: | The objective of this exploratory research is to investigate a mode of purchasing, social commerce and its main target, e-shoppers. Social commerce can take different forms: F-commerce, grouped purchases or discounts. Nevertheless, the best way to monetize social media remains the possibility to incite Internet users to promote the products or promotions obtained by their friends. Recommendations coming from friends are the main lever to create interactions between consumers, interactions centered on the purchase. However, many questions remain unanswered, especially regarding social acceptance and the real effectiveness of this type of promotion. In one study conducted on the "La Redoute" brand, we examined the extent to which our sample of women is likely to accept social shopping and, in particular, the product or service recommendations of their friends on their wall. |
| Keywords: | social commerce,routes of persuasion,branding,recommendations,Facebook Commerce,F-commerce |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03204816&r= |
| By: | Alexandra Mitschke (University of Paderborn) |
| Abstract: | In consequence of the progressive digitalization and declining trend of cash- usage in payments, the majority of central banks is currently researching the topic of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs). Since 2020, the ECB is preparing a review into whether to issue a digital complement to physical cash and central bank deposits, the so-called digital euro. This study investigates its potential impact on the transmission of monetary policy. We fiÂ…rst survey and interpret key properties of money and money-like assets in the current monetary framework, which motivates a discussion of the proposed forms of CBDCs and the digital euro. Against this background, we extend and close the arbitrage model of Meaning et al. (2018) to investigate the effect of CBDCs on the effectiveness of monetary policy transmission and the ability of the banking sector to fulÂ…fil regulatory liquidity requirements. We conclude that monetary policy would be effective following the introduction of interest-bearing CBDCs, potentially reinforcing the mechanism. Further, we confiÂ…rm that an increase in non-pecuniary benefiÂ…ts of holding bank deposits in relation to CBDCs can mitigate the risk of a potential disintermediation of the banking sector. |
| Keywords: | Central Bank Digital Currencies, Monetary System, Monetary Policy |
| JEL: | E41 E42 E52 E58 |
| Date: | 2021–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pdn:dispap:74&r= |