2.3. The demand for information industries’ products

Information industries produce ICT goods and services, as well as media and content. The demand for, and uses of, these information products varies across economies, taking the form of investment, purchases of intermediate inputs for production and final consumption demand.

Investment in ICT products, on average, amounted to around 15% of total non-residential investment (Gross Fixed Capital Formation or GFCF) in 2016; a slight decrease compared to 2005. Such investment is especially strong in information industries, which account for 27% of ICT GFCF on average, and over 30% in countries including, the Czech Republic, Portugal, Sweden, Ireland and the United States. In most economies, ICT equipment is the main component of ICT investment in information industries, while software and databases represent the largest portion in the rest of the economy.

Information industries’ products accounted for 7.3% of total intermediate inputs purchased in OECD economies in 2015, up 0.1 of a percentage point since 2005. The overall share of information industries’ products in intermediate consumption fell by 0.6 percentage points in the EU28, while rising 1.8 points in the United States, to almost 9%. From a compositional standpoint, the demand for information industries’ services, which include telecommunications, ICT services, and content and media services, is greater in high-income economies. Content and media products represented around 40% of the overall intermediate consumption of information products in New Zealand and Sweden, and as much as 70% in Ireland.

Final demand (which includes household consumption and investment by businesses) shows a similar pattern. In 2015, information industries’ products comprised 6.6% of final demand in OECD economies, down from 6.9% in 2005. Within the OECD, the share of demand for computer and electronic goods is relatively high, at around 2% or above, in ICT-producing economies including Korea, Japan and Ireland. Meanwhile, demand for ICT services is greater in high-income economies such as Switzerland, Luxembourg and Sweden. Relative decreases of the final demand share of information industries’ products were common between 2005 and 2015. This is especially the case for computer and electronic goods; their share of final-demand fell in 32 out of 36 economies and by 0.7 percentage points on average, to 1.4%. This decrease was particularly strong in the United States and Hungary, as well as in Chinese Taipei and Brazil. Purchases also fell slightly for content and media services, while the share of IT services rose from 1.7% to 2.3% of final demand, reaching 3% or more in Switzerland, Luxembourg, Sweden, Israel and Japan.

Did You Know?

Information industries’ products represent around 15% of non-residential investment in the OECD. They account for 7% of intermediate inputs used in the economy and of final demand on average. The combined demand for information products is highest in Sweden.

Definitions

Information industries’ products are the goods and services produced by businesses classified in “Manufacture of computer, electronic and optical products” (ISIC Rev.4 Division 26) and “Information and communication services” (Divisions 58 to 63). See page 2.1 for more information.

Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF) refers to the acquisition of physical or intangible assets (whether new or second-hand) including the creation of assets by producers for their own use, minus any sales or disposals of such assets. Assets are products intended for use in production for a period of more than a year such as buildings, machines and intellectual property. Here, investment in ICT goods and services is compared to non-residential GFCF, which excludes investment in dwellings and focuses solely on productive fixed assets.

Intermediate consumption measures the value of goods and services (other than investment products) used as inputs for production.

Final demand is the sum of final consumption (by households, government and non-profit organisations), business investment and changes in inventories.

Measurability

The value of ICT investment comes from National Accounts. However, the availability and timeliness of detailed capital formation data varies. In particular, some economies do not isolate all ICT items, which leads to under-estimation of their share in GFCF.

The main source for estimates of the global flows of information industry products is the OECD Inter-Country Input-Output (ICIO) database. Final products purchased by individuals and intermediate and final products purchased by businesses can be domestically produced or imported. However, flows of goods and services within global production chains are not always identifiable in conventional trade statistics, or national Input-Output or Supply and Use tables. The 2018 version of the ICIO database builds on these and complementary data sources to provide estimates of flows of goods and services between 64 economies and 36 economic activities (based on ISIC Rev.4).

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