Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Information and Communications Technology Effects on East Asian Productivity

  • Published:
Journal of the Knowledge Economy Aims and scope Submit manuscript

An Erratum to this article was published on 31 August 2010

An Erratum to this article was published on 31 August 2010

Abstract

This study empirically assesses the effect of information and communications technology (ICT) on productivity of ASEAN5 (Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand) plus 3 (China, Japan and South Korea). Analytical interpretations in this article have successfully corrected the defects of the predecessor study through a statistical estimation by way of arriving at the coefficients of the explanatory variables being used by econometric approach. A second step in a routine procedure has effectively plugged the parameters of the variables into a modified model in order to calculate the growth rates of productivity indicators being used by growth accounting. The examination envisages a key finding that on the productivity growth of the aforesaid ASEAN5, China has been ‘input-driven’ while, on the other hand, Japan and Republic of Korea productivity growths have been shown as ‘productivity-driven’, as reflected from the comparison among the results of total factor productivity growth. The study also exposes a fact that the impact of ICT has been positive in the countries under considerations.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. The intercept term, as usual, gives the mean or average effect on dependent variable of all the variables excluded from the model.

  2. The residual term proxies for the total factor productivity growth that accounts for the technological progress of the economy through the quality of input terms.

References

  1. Abramovitz M (1956) Resource and output trends in the United States since 1870'. Am Econ Rev 46(2):5–23

    Google Scholar 

  2. Asian Productivity Organisation (APO) (1990) Information Technology-Led Development, Tokyo

  3. Ark B (2001) The renewal of the old economy: an international comparative perspective. OECD Science, Technology and Industry: Working Papers, 2001/5, OECD Publishing, Paris

  4. Arthur WB (1994) Increasing returns and path dependence in the economy. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor

    Google Scholar 

  5. Arthur WB (1996) Increasing returns and the new world of business. Harvard Business Review, July–Aug, pp 100–109

  6. Bank Negara Malaysia (1999) Annual report. Government of Malaysia Printers, Kula Lumpur

    Google Scholar 

  7. Bosworth B, Triplett J (2000) What's new about the new economy? IT, economic growth and productivity. Brooking Institution, Washington. Available at: http://www.brook.edu/views/papers/bosworth/20001020.htm

  8. Denison EF (1962) The sources of economic growth in the United States and the alternative before use. A supplementary paper. Committee for Economic Development, New York, pp 229–255

  9. Denison EF, Edward P (1979) Accounting of slower economic growth; the United States in the 1970s. The Brooking Institution, Washington

    Google Scholar 

  10. Dewan S, Kraemer KL (2000) Information technology and productivity: evidence from country-level data. Manage Sci 46(4):548–562

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Elsadig MA (2006) ICT and human capital role in achieving knowledge-based economy: applications on Malaysia's manufacturing. J Inf Knowl Manage 5:117–128

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Engle RF, Granger, CWJ (2003) Time-series econometrics: cointegration and autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity. Advanced Information ON THE Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel

  13. Gordon RJ (2000) Does the ‘new economy’ measure up to the great inventions of the past? J Econ Perspect 14:49–74

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Griliches Z, Jorgenson DW (1962) Capital theory: technical progress and capital structure, sources of measured productivity change capital input. Am Econ Rev 52(1):50–61

    Google Scholar 

  15. Jorgenson DW, Gollop FM, Fraumenri B (1987) Productivity and US economic growth. North Holland Publishing, Amsterdam

    Google Scholar 

  16. Jorgenson DW, Stiroh KJ (2000) Raising the speed limit: US economic growth in the information age. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity: 1. Brookings Institution, Washington, pp 161–167

  17. Kendrick JW (1956) Producative trends capital and labour. Rev Econ Statistics 38(3):248–257

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Kendrick JW (1961) Productivity trends in the United States. Princeton, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  19. Kim, J.L. and Lau, L.J. (1994) The Sources of Economic Growth of the East Asian Newly Industrialised Countries. Journal of the Japanese and International Economics 8:235–271

    Google Scholar 

  20. Kraemer KL, Dedrick J (1994) Payoffs from investment in information technology: lessons from Asia-Pacific region. World Dev 22(12):1921–1931

    Google Scholar 

  21. Kraemer KL, Dedrick J (1999) Information technology and productivity: results and policy implications of cross-country studies. Working Paper: #PAC-144. Center for Research on Information Technology and Organizations, University of California

  22. Krugman P (1994) The myth of Asia's miracle. Foreign Affairs, Nov/Dec, pp 62–78

  23. Lau LJ, Tokutsu I (1992) The impact of computer technology on the aggregate productivity of the United States: an indirect approach. Working Paper. Department of Economics, Stanford University, Stanford

  24. Lee IH, Khatri Y (2003) Information technology and productivity growth in Asia. IMF Working Paper WP/03/15. International Monetary Fund, Washington

  25. Loveman GW (1988) An assessment of the productivity impact of information technologies. Working Paper No. 88-054, Management in the 1990s Project. MIT Sloan School, Cambridge

  26. Mody A, Dahlman C (1992) Performance and potential of information technology: an international perspective. World Dev 20(12):1703–1719

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Oliner SD, Sichel DE (1994) Computers and output growth revisited: how big is the puzzle? Brookings Pap Econ Activ 2:273–333

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Oliner SD, Sichel DE (2000) The resurgence of growth in the late 1990s: is information technology the story. J Econ Perspect 14:3–22

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Pilat D, Lee F (2001) Productivity growth in ICT-producing and ICT-using industries: a source of growth differentials in the OECD? STI Working Paper, OECD, Paris

  30. Rahim SA, Pennings AJ (1987) Computerization and development in Southeast Asia. Asian Mass Communications Research and Information Center, Singapore

    Google Scholar 

  31. Rao PS, Preston RS (1984) Inter-factor substitution, economic of scale, and technical change: evidence from Canadian Industries. Empirical Econ 9(4):247–262

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Roach S (1987) America's technology dilemma: a profile of the information economy. Morgan Stanley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  33. Roach S (1988) White-collar productivity: a glimmer of hope? Morgan Stanley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  34. Romer PM (1990) Endogenous technological change. Journal of Political Economy, 98, 5, Part 2, Reprinted. In: Buchanan JM, Yong JY (eds) The return to increasing returns. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, pp 287–318

    Google Scholar 

  35. Sarel M (1996) Growth in East Asia: what we can and cannot infer. IMF Working Paper 95/98. International Monetary Fund, Washington

  36. Schumpeter JS (1939) Business cycles: a theoretical, historical and statistical analysis of the capitalist process. McGraw Hill, New York

    Google Scholar 

  37. Sichel D (1997) The computer revolution: an economic perspective. Brookings Institution, January

  38. Solow RM (1956) The production function and the theory of capital. Rev Econ Stud 21:101–108

    Google Scholar 

  39. Solow RM (1957) Technical change and the aggregate production function. Rev Econ Stat 39:312–320

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Stigler, George J (1947) Trends in output and employment. National Bureau of Economic Research, New York

    Google Scholar 

  41. Strassman P (1997) Computers are yet to make companies more productive. Computerworld, 15 Sep

  42. Wong P (1994) Productivity impact of IT investment in Singapore. Proceedings International Conference on Information Systems, Vancouver, 14–17 Dec 1994

  43. Young A (1992) A tale of two cities: factor accumulation and technological change in Hong-Kong and Singapore. National Bureau of Economic Research Macroeconomics Annual, pp 13–54

  44. Young A (1995) The tyranny of numbers: confronting the statistical realities of the East Asian growth experience. Q J Econ 110:641–680

    Article  Google Scholar 

  45. Zukime M (2004) Predicting GDP growth in Malaysia using knowledge-based economy indicators: a comparison between neural network and econometric approaches. Sunway Coll J 1:39–50

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Economics Unit, Faculty of Business and Law, Multimedia University, 75450, Melaka, Malaysia

    Elsadig Musa Ahmed

Authors
  1. Elsadig Musa Ahmed
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Elsadig Musa Ahmed.

Additional information

An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13132-010-0016-5

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Ahmed, E.M. Information and Communications Technology Effects on East Asian Productivity. J Knowl Econ 1, 191–201 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13132-010-0013-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13132-010-0013-8

Keywords

JEL classification

Search

Navigation