Publication: Do Poor Countries Really Need More IT?: The Role of Relative Prices and Industrial Composition
Date
2015-06
ISSN
Published
2015-06
Author(s)
Abstract
Conventional wisdom suggests too little
information and communication technologies (ICT) in poor
countries. Indeed, within 70 countries at various levels of
development, there is a positive relationship between income
per capita and the capital share of ICT. While this
regularity is consistent with explanations based on
technology adoption lags and ICT-labor substitutability,
there is little empirical support for these hypotheses.
Instead, the paper establishes that this regularity can be
fully accounted for by (a) relatively higher ICT prices in
low-income countries and (b) industrial composition.
Citation
“Eden, Maya; Gaggl, Paul. 2015. Do Poor Countries Really Need More IT? : The Role of Relative Prices and Industrial Composition. Policy Research Working Paper;No. 7352. © World Bank, Washington, DC. http://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/22229 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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