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Investment in information technologies has by no means been confined to the United States and yet, average European or Japanese growth experience has been quite different. The paper compares the impact of ICT capital accumulation on output growth in Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. The analysis uses a newly compiled database of investment in ICT equipment and software based on the System of National Accounts 1993 (SNA93). Over the past two decades, ICT contributed between 0.2 and 0.5 percentage points per year to economic growth, depending on the country. During the second half of the 1990s, this contribution rose to 0.3 to 0.9 percentage points per year. The paper shows that, despite differences between countries, the United States has not been alone in benefiting from the positive effects of ICT capital investment on economic growth nor was the United States the sole country to experience an acceleration of these ...
Given their role in the current transformation of advanced economies, information and communication technologies (ICTs) offer the promise of new business and employment opportunities along with higher productivity gains, but also make new demands on skills. OECD countries are thus confronted with the dual challenge of ensuring that the growth of new industries and activities is not stifled by labour bottlenecks and skill mismatches and that their population is equipped to master the basic IT skills which these transformations require. Despite recent claims of a widespread IT worker shortage, this study argues that although there is indeed some evidence of tightness in labour markets for particular categories of IT workers, the main issue of concern for policy makers and firms should be the gap between the skills of current and future IT workers and those sought by firms.
Both short- and long-term strategies can be implemented to address the rapidly changing skill requirements for ICT ...
This study uses an econometric approach to estimate the contribution of three types of ICT investments (computer, software and communication) in 26 industries (the whole business sector) in 18 OECD countries over 1995-2007, based on the EU KLEMS Database. The estimated contribution of ICT investments to value added growth in the business sector varies from 1.0% a year in Australia to 0.4% a year in Japan. In one-third of the countries considered, the contribution of ICT investment was bigger or equal to the contribution of non-ICT investments. In most countries, computing equipment provided the largest contribution and accounted for over 50% of the overall ICT contribution. The only exceptions are Finland, where investments in communication equipment exceeded those in computing equipment, and Japan, where software was the most dynamic component of ICT investments. ICT producing industries account for no less than two-thirds of total factor productivity (TFP) growth in Germany, Slovenia and the United Kingdom, about 60% in the United States and just below 50% in France and the Netherlands. In Denmark, the Czech Republic and Italy, TFP increased in the ICT producing industries whereas it decreased for the total business sector.
JEL classification: O47, E23, E22.
Keywords: Growth accounting, ICT, GMM, EU KLEMS.
Policies to support ICT investment are a strategic tool to spur the digital transformation and enhance productivity and growth. However, while most countries do carry out some forms of ICT investment policy, very little is known on the effects of these policies. In order to start filling this gap, this report presents an overview of recent trends in ICT investment in OECD countries; makes an inventory of ICT investment policies in OECD and selected Partner economies; and reviews the evaluation of selected investment programmes in some OECD countries.
This work proposes a definition of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) based on the technology classes of the International Patent Classification (IPC) in which patents are classified. This new taxonomy, called the “J tag”, aligns with the definitions of the ICT sector (2007) and of ICT products (2008) put forward by the OECD, and stems from the in-depth knowledge of Japan Patent Office experts, as well of experts from the Intellectual Property (IP) Offices participating in the OECD-led IP Task Force. Expert judgment of patent class content, relevance for ICT-related products, completeness and accuracy are the principles guiding the inclusion of IPC classes in the “J tag” taxonomy. ICT technologies are subdivided into 13 areas defined with respect to the specific technical features and functions they are supposed to accomplish (e.g. mobile communication), and details provided about the ways in which technologies relate to ICT products.
In this regard, UNDP asked the DAC to produce an analytical report on DAC Members’ financing ICT4D activities which would build on our existing work “Donor ICT Strategies Matrix”...