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Do ICT Influence Economic Growth and Human Development in European Union Countries?

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Abstract

This study analyzes the influence of the introduction of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) on economic growth and human development in the countries that make up the European Union 27. The remarkable interest that the European Commission has shown in the Information Society (IS) and the introduction of ICT inspired us to analyze to what extent ICT had established themselves in these countries. More specifically, countries are grouped in accordance with some of the main IS indicators published by Eurostat to ascertain whether or not there are different groups of countries with different levels of development and where ICT have been implemented to different degrees. We determine whether they have achieved different levels of economic and human development. This enables us to confirm (or reject) the main theories that suggest ICT have a strong influence on economic and human development. Results show the existence of four clearly distinct groups of countries which register significant differences.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support of the Spanish Government under grant TIN2006-07262 and by the Castilla-La Mancha University under grant PL20101694.

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  1. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales. Área de Estadística, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Plaza de la Universidad, 1, 02071, Albacete, Spain

    Esteban Alfaro Cortés & José-Luis Alfaro Navarro

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  1. Esteban Alfaro Cortés
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  2. José-Luis Alfaro Navarro
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Correspondence to Esteban Alfaro Cortés.

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Alfaro Cortés, E., Alfaro Navarro, JL. Do ICT Influence Economic Growth and Human Development in European Union Countries?. Int Adv Econ Res 17, 28–44 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11294-010-9289-5

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