This report provides an overview of the economic impact of ICT on economic performance, and the ways through which it can be measured.

This report provides an overview of the economic impact of ICT on economic performance, and the ways through which it can be measured.

The Economic Impact of Digital Technologies offers a profoundly illuminating examination of ICT transformations in Europe and its critical role in greater social inequality. It presents scholars and policy makers with original and practical tools to benchmark and assess the ICT diffusion and inclusion process. The core message of book is that a coherent European strategy for embedding ICT technologies in society is long overdue. Social differences in ICT use persist and are in some cases widening, yet despite this fact there is a dearth of research on remedying digital inequalities. This is of particular importance given that relative levels of ICT use, investment and research can often explain variations in economic performance between industrialised countries. The purpose of this book is to fill the gap in the literature by presenting key evidence on the economic benefits (and costs) deriving from investment in an inclusive information society. The authors propose indicators and indexes of digital development and e-Inclusion (and its flip-side e-exclusion) to assess the relationship between inclusive ICT and wider economic and social performance in Europe. Presenting the methodology to monitor countries' performance and ICT use, together with original measures and policy suggestions, this book will be indispensable to policymakers, scholars and postgraduate students in a variety of areas including economic growth, innovation, industrial and organizational studies, information and technology, European studies, and public and social policy.

This Guide to Measuring the Information Society is a compilation of concepts, definitions, classifications and methods for information society measurement and analysis.

Durante los años noventa, Estados Unidos conoció un resurgir del crecimiento económico. Aunque este fenómeno se explica en parte por razones de ciclo, existen otras de orden estructural e influencia a largo plazo, en particular el papel del capital asociado a las Tecnologías de Información y Comunicación (ICT, según sus siglas en inglés), y la producción de activos en este sector. El contraste entre la tasa de crecimiento de Estados Unidos y el avance mucho más modesto de la Unión Europea se ha atribuido, en ocasiones, al retraso del Viejo Continente en el uso y la producción de activos relacionados con las nuevas tecnologías. Esta obra analiza el crecimiento, la medición del capital y las nuevas tecnologías. Para ello, reúne las ponencias presentadas y debatidas, a finales de noviembre de 2002, en un seminario internacional organizado por la Fundación BBVA y el Instituto Valenciano de Estudios Económicos (Ivie) en Valencia. Todas las ponencias se han sometido a un proceso de revisión y actualización antes de ser incluidas en el volumen. Esta colección de trabajos pretende facilitar el conocimiento y la comprensión de los factores que subyacen al crecimiento económico y a la mejora de la productividad de los años noventa y, en particular, al papel desempeñado por las ICT.

This report presents indicators traditionally used to monitor the information society and complements them with experimental indicators that provide insight into areas of policy interest.

Two experts on the information economy explore the true economic value of technology and innovation. A wave of business innovation is driving the productivity resurgence in the U.S. economy. In Wired for Innovation, Erik Brynjolfsson and Adam Saunders describe how information technology directly or indirectly created this productivity explosion, reversing decades of slow growth. They argue that the companies with the highest level of returns to their technology investment are doing more than just buying technology; they are inventing new forms of organizational capital to become digital organizations. These innovations include a cluster of organizational and business-process changes, including broader sharing of information, decentralized decision-making, linking pay and promotions to performance, pruning of non-core products and processes, and greater investments in training and education. Innovation continues through booms and busts. This book provides an essential guide for policy makers and economists who need to understand how information technology is transforming the economy and how it will create value in the coming decade.

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) create potentials for considerable productivity gains and for higher economic growth. However, ICTs also pose varied challenges to firms in order to benefit from these potentials. Highlighting the importance of innovations, firm-sponsored training, and recruitment of high-skilled workers, this monograph analyses why and to what extent firms differ in their capabilities to make ICT work productively. The work also comprises a detailed discussion of economic theory concerning ICT use and complementary firm strategies. In addition it provides a comprehensive treatment of various methodological issues concerning the measurement of firm-level productivity in econometric analyses.