Is ICT the Key to Development?

Using panel data for 52 developed and developing countries over the period 1998-2006, this article examines the links between information and communication technology diffusion and human development. We conducted a panel regression analysis of the investments per capita in healthcare, education and information and communication technology against human development index scores. Using a quantile regression approach, our findings suggest that changes in healthcare, education and information and communication technology provision have a stronger impact on human development index scores for less developed than for highly developed countries. Furthermore, at lower levels of development education fosters development directly and also indirectly through their enhanced effects on ICT. At higher levels of development education has only an indirect effect on development through the return to ICT.

[1]  K. Kraemer,et al.  : Evidence from , 2022 .

[2]  Lisa J. Servon.  Bridging the Digital Divide: Technology, Community, and Public Policy , 2002 .

[3]  Alex Byrne,et al.  World Summit on the Information Society , 2010 .

[4]  R. Mansell,et al.  Knowledge Societies: Information Technology for Sustainable Development , 1998 .

[5]  C. Avgerou.  How can IT enable economic growth in developing countries , 1998 .

[6]  Alison Gillwald.  Towards an African e-index : household and individual ICT access and usage across 10 African countries, 2005 , 2005 .

[7]  Matti Pohjola,et al.  Information Technology and Economic Growth: A Cross country Analysis , 1992 .

[8]  Robert Schware,et al.  Technology in education: the Turkish experiment , 1998 .

[9]  S. Cecchini,et al.  Can information and communications technology applications contribute to poverty reduction? Lessons from rural India , 2003 .

[10]  D. Morales-gomez,et al.  Utilising information and communication technologies for development: the social dimensions , 1998 .

[11]  Ojelanki K. Ngwenyama,et al.  Is There A Relationship Between ICT, Health, Education And Development? An Empirical Analysis of five West African Countries from 1997–2003 , 2006, Electron. J. Inf. Syst. Dev. Ctries..

[12]  Marcelo Soto,et al.  Growth and human capital: good data, good results , 2001 .

[13]  P. Schreyer.  The Contribution of Information and Communication Technology to Output Growth: A Study of the G7 Countries , 2000 .

[14]  Lisa J. Servon.  Bridging the Digital Divide , 2002 .

[15]  Sang-Yong Tom Lee,et al.  A Time Series Analysis of International ICT Spillover , 2007, J. Glob. Inf. Manag..

[16]  Abel Usoro,et al.  The Prospects and Problems of Adopting ICT for Poverty Eradication in Nigeria , 2006, Electron. J. Inf. Syst. Dev. Ctries..

[17]  Stephen D. Oliner,et al.  Federal Reserve Board , 2001 .

[18]  R. D'Agostino,et al.  A Suggestion for Using Powerful and Informative Tests of Normality , 1990 .

[19]  Moshe Buchinsky.  Recent Advances in Quantile Regression Models: A Practical Guideline for Empirical Research , 1998 .

[20]  O. Ngwenyama,et al.  Are ICT investments paying off in Africa? An analysis of total factor productivity in six West African countries from 1995 to 2002 , 2008 .

[21]  Alemayehu Molla,et al.  eCommerce adoption in developing countries: a model and instrument , 2005, Inf. Manag..

[22]  Sophia P. Dimelis,et al.  Foreign ownership and production efficiency: a quantile regression analysis , 2002 .

[23]  S. Shapiro,et al.  An Approximate Analysis of Variance Test for Normality , 1972 .

[24]  Roya Gholami,et al.  Time series analysis in the assessment of ICT impact at the aggregate level - lessons and implications for the new economy , 2005, Inf. Manag..

[25]  M. Baliamoune-Lutz.  An analysis of the determinants and effects of ICT diffusion in developing countries , 2003 .

[26]  Ojelanki K. Ngwenyama,et al.  Unraveling the Impact of Investments in ICT, Education and Health on Development: An Analysis of Archival Data of Five West African Countries Using Regression Splines , 2007, Electron. J. Inf. Syst. Dev. Ctries..