ICT Capital and Services Complementarities: The Italian Evidence

37 Pages Posted: 15 Mar 2008

See all articles by Francesco Quatraro

Francesco Quatraro

University of Torino - Department of Economics; Université de Nice Sophia Antipolis; BRICK - Collegio Carlo Alberto

Abstract

This paper investigates whether ICTs hardware and services play a complementary role in boosting economic growth. The main argument is that investments in ICTs fixed capital are a necessary but not sufficient condition leading to productivity gains, above all in late adopter countries. Their effective implementation indeed requires on the one hand a changing economic structure characterized by a growing weight of service sectors, on the other hand complementary investments in ICTs services, directed to ease the integration of the new technologies within firms' boundaries. The analysis is conducted on a late-industrialized country like Italy, and shows that in lagging countries the weak impact of ICTs adoption is the result of three converging forces: relatively high share of manufacturing sectors, low adoption levels of ICTs in traditional manufacturing sectors, inadequate investments in ICTs services.

Keywords: Information and Communication Technologies, Economic Growth, General Purpose Technologies, Complementarities

JEL Classification: O33

Suggested Citation

Quatraro, Francesco, ICT Capital and Services Complementarities: The Italian Evidence. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1106116 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1106116

Francesco Quatraro (Contact Author)

University of Torino - Department of Economics ( email )

Via Po 53
Torino, 10125
Italy

Université de Nice Sophia Antipolis ( email )

250 rue Albert Einstein
Valbonne, Nice 06560
France

BRICK - Collegio Carlo Alberto ( email )

via Real Collegio 30
Moncalieri, Torino 10024
Italy

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