International differences in telecommunications demand

Countries with significantly different development levels experience similar regulatory transformations in the telecommunications industry. While these changes may be particularly successful in lowering costs, they may also lead to lower consumer welfare in markets in which consumers are highly sensitive to price changes. This paper assessed whether price elasticities for telecommunications demand differ between broad groups of countries according to their development levels. We provided empirical evidence of differences in estimated demand elasticities between developed and less developed countries. Our results suggest that consumers in poorer countries may experience greater welfare losses when incentive regulations are implemented.Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia

Competition in Industries Recently Deregulated in Japan

Deregulation in Japan has been caused by both external and internal factors. External factors include requests by the United States and the European Community, where deregulation measures were extensively implemented in order to facilitate these countries\u27 enterprises access into Japan\u27s market. Internal factors include the necessity for the privatization of state or public corporations in order to utilize private initiative to its fullest extent and for the reduction of differences between domestic and international prices

Oil price uncertainty and sectoral stock returns in China: A time-varying approach

This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.This paper investigates the time-varying impact of oil price uncertainty on stock prices in China using weekly data on ten sectoral indices over the period January 1997-February 2014. The estimation of a bivariate VAR-GARCH-in-mean model suggests that oil price volatility affects stock returns positively during periods characterised by demand-side shocks in all cases except the Consumer Services, Financials, and Oil and Gas sectors. The latter two sectors are found to exhibit a negative response to oil price uncertainty during periods with supply-side shocks instead. By contrast, the impact of oil price uncertainty appears to be insignificant during periods with precautionary demand shocks

Institutions, Telecommunications Dynamics and Policy Challenges: Theory and Empirical Analysis for Germany

The telecommunications sector was liberalized in the US and the EU in 1984 and 1998, respectively. In EU countries, price cap regulation has shaped this sector in a pro-competitive way that - with telecommunications obviously being a key element of the information and communications sector (ICT) - has obviously contributed to higher employment and growth. Integrating the use of telecommunications in a macroeconomic production function is the analytical starting point for our interdependent analysis of output, use of telecommunications and employment. Based on unit root and co-integration analysis as well as an error correction three-equation model which are estimated simultaneously, we present results both on long run links and short run links between telecommunications, output and employment. Considering various scenarios suggests that a fall in the relative price of telecommunications can generate a cumulated employment increase of 760,000 within seven years. This points to the need for maintaining the regulation of fixed-line telecommunications networks in Germany with due emphasis on efficiency-enhancing competition. The institutional setup for regulating telecommunications could be improved in Germany and other EU countries.telecommunications dynamics, institutional setup

Political institutions and the development of telecomunications

It has traditionally been argued that the development of telecommunications infrastructure is dependent on the quality of countries’ political institutions. We estimate the effect of political institutions on the diffusion of three telecommunications services and find it to be much smaller in cellular telephony than in the others. By evaluating the importance of institutions for technologies rather than for industries, we reveal important growth opportunities for developing countries and offer policy implications for alleviating differences between countries in international telecommunications development.Political constraints, Telecommunications, GMM, Economic development.

Is there persistence in the growth of manufactured exports? Evidence from newly industrializing countries

Price and income elasticities estimated from a country's export demand function are used both to predict and to prescribe effective export strategies. But the focus on elasticities has led to the neglect of an important empirical regularity: a strong persistencein the growth rate of a country's exports. The authors shift the spotlight to this phenomenon and describe the degree and pattern of persistence. They find that a country's exports are influenced not only by the elasticities, but also by the quality of its transactional infrastructure (proxied by the penetration of telecommunications). More important, when world income rises, exports rise relatively uniformly for different country groups. As world income contracts, the decline in exports is greater and is especially sharp for certain countries. The authors infer from this asymmetry in income elasticity of demand, and from the observed persistence of exports, that long-term buyer supplier relationships lead to the creation of"insiders"and"outsiders"in the world market for manufactured goods, a condition that tends to perpetuate itself.Access to Markets,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Inequality,Markets and Market Access

Managing ubiquitous eco cities: the role of urban telecommunication infrastructure networks and convergence technologies

A successful urban management system for a Ubiquitous Eco City requires an integrated approach. This integration includes bringing together economic, socio-cultural and urban development with a well orchestrated, transparent and open decision making mechanism and necessary infrastructure and technologies. Rapidly developing information and telecommunication technologies and their platforms in the late 20th Century improves urban management and enhances the quality of life and place. Telecommunication technologies provide an important base for monitoring and managing activities over wired, wireless or fibre-optic networks. Particularly technology convergence creates new ways in which the information and telecommunication technologies are used. The 21st Century is an era where information has converged, in which people are able to access a variety of services, including internet and location based services, through multi-functional devices such as mobile phones and provides opportunities in the management of Ubiquitous Eco Cities. This paper discusses the recent developments in telecommunication networks and trends in convergence technologies and their implications on the management of Ubiquitous Eco Cities and how this technological shift is likely to be beneficial in improving the quality of life and place. The paper also introduces recent approaches on urban management systems, such as intelligent urban management systems, that are suitable for Ubiquitous Eco Cities

The Determinants of the Global Digital Divide: A Cross-Country Analysis of Computer and Internet Penetration

To identify the determinants of cross-country disparities in personal computer and Internet penetration, we examine a panel of 161 countries over the 1999-2001 period. Our candidate variables include economic variables (income per capita, years of schooling, illiteracy, trade openness), demographic variables (youth and aged dependency ratios, urbanization rate), infrastructure indicators (telephone density, electricity consumption), telecommunications pricing measures, and regulatory quality. With the exception of trade openness and the telecom pricing measures, these variables enter in as statistically significant in most specifications for computer use. A similar pattern holds true for Internet use, except that telephone density and aged dependency matter less. The global digital divide is mainly but by no means entirely accounted for by income differentials. For computers, telephone density and regulatory quality are of second and third importance, while for the Internet, this ordering is reversed. The region-specific explanations for large disparities in computer and Internet penetration are generally very similar. Our results suggest that public investment in human capital, telecommunications infrastructure, and the regulatory infrastructure can mitigate the gap in PC and Internet use.