Impact of Information and Communication Technology Access on Economic Growth

This paper studies the impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) access on economic growth using the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimator within the framework of a dynamic panel data approach and applies it to142 countries over the period 2006 to 2015. The results indicate that there is a positive relationship between growth rate of real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita and ICT access index (as measured by the fixed telephone lines per 100 inhabitants, mobile cellular telephone subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, international internet bandwidth per internet user, proportion of households with a computer and proportion of households with internet access at home). This study also finds that the effect of ICT access on economic growth is higher in the high income group rather than others. This implies that if these countries seek to enhance their economic growth, they need to implement specific policies that facilitate ICT access.

Keywords:

Economic growth , ICT access , fixed telephone lines , mobile cellular , international internet bandwidth , GMM