Abstract
In economic theory, technology is treated as a crucial factor contributing significantly to economic development. Seminal works of Schumpeter (Theory of economic development. Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, 1934, J Econ Hist 7:149–159, 1947), Baumol (Am Econ Rev 76:1072–1084, 1986), Gerschenkron (Economic backwardness in economic perspective. Belknap Press, Cambridge, MA, 1962) or Abramovitz (J Econ Hist 46(2):385–406, 1986) emphasize the special role of technological progress in the process of economic development. The objective of the study is twofold. Firstly, using panel data, we analyze diffusion trajectories of ICTs in developing countries, assessing dynamics of the process. Secondly, we hypothesize about the existence of quantitative links between the adoption of ICT and economic development. The time framework for the analysis is the period 2000–2011. Statistical data are derived from the World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database (2012), World Development Indicators (2013), and Human Development Report (2013).
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- 1.
The concept of epidemic models was originally derived from the medical sciences. The term epidemic referred to spontaneously and uncontrolled spread of diseases.
- 2.
The decisions are not collective, but rather individual.
- 3.
With e introduced.
- 4.
Countries in the panel represent different regions of the world (including Europe).
- 5.
Country.
- 6.
Year.
- 7.
Refers to individuals using Internet.
- 8.
For data transformation we have used statistics on total population and total number of given ICT tool in each country. Based on that we have estimated the share of total population using (having access) to fixed telephony and mobile telephony.
- 9.
Labour participation rate: the share of the female population aged 15+ that are active participants in the labour market (WDI 2013).
- 10.
Kernel Epanechnikov.
- 11.
We estimate the model for each country separately.
- 12.
We have chosen generalized linear model (GLM) techniques.
- 13.
Refers to individuals.
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Lechman, E. (2014). ICT Diffusion Trajectories and Economic Development: Empirical Evidence for 46 Developing Countries. In: Kaur, H., Tao, X. (eds) ICTs and the Millennium Development Goals. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-7439-6_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-7439-6_2
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