Happy e-Inclusion? The Case of Romania

This paper investigates the determinants of adoption of ICT technology by households in Romania, using a probit model based on a time-series cross-section dataset. A particular attention is given to a few psycho-social factors in addition to the recognised role of usual socio-economic determinants, such as income, age, employment status, educational level or gender. The particular findings are that, together with an expected impact of the occupational status and of the educational level, the perceived wellbeing of individuals is one of the most important factors influencing the decision to acquire and use a PC at home. Gender does not seem to have the same importance as in other regions of the world and shows an opposite sign than elsewhere, whereas income influences the decision, but with a weaker effect.information and communications technology; e-inclusion; Probit model; Romania; determinants of PC use

Happy E-Inclusion? The Case of Romania

This paper investigates the determinants of adoption of ICT technology by households in Romania, using a probit model based on a time-series cross-section dataset. A particular attention is given to a few psycho-social factors in addition to the recognised role of usual socio-economic determinants, such as income, age, employment status, educational level or gender. The particular findings are that, together with an expected impact of the occupational status and of the educational level, the perceived wellbeing of individuals is one of the most important factors influencing the decision to acquire and use a PC at home. Gender doesn¿t seem to have the same importance as in other regions of the world and shows an opposite sign than elsewhere, whereas income influences the decision, but with a weaker effect. Keywords: Information and communications technology; E-Inclusion; Probit model; Romania; determinants of PC use JEL classification: O33, O52, L86JRC.DG.J.4-Information Societ

Tracking the Economic Value of Embedded Digital Technology: A Supply-side Methodology

This methodological report indicates a way forward in estimating the economic role of embedded digital technology (EDT) from the supply side. We propose a more holistic approach to the production and diffusion of ICT and we develop the foundation of a methodology that would ultimately take into account the overall use and impact of embedded digital technology in the productive process. Technological, economic and statistical arguments support our approach. Current technological development no longer accommodates clear borderlines between ICT and non-ICT goods or between general purpose computers and embedded digital devices. The economics and statistics of ICT reveal the complex and multi-channel contributions of ICT to the productive process. The methodology we propose uses the input-output method known as backward linkages to give a measure of EDT as ICT consumption generated along the value chain by the demand of final goods. We give an account of the methodological limitations of applying the method and an overview of data availability and shortages for its implementation. A simplified application of the methodology to German data is used as an example.JRC.DDG.J.4-Information Societ

R&D Business Investment in the EU ICT Sector

The EU spends only about half as much on R&D in ICT as the US. This holds true both in absolute amounts and relative to the size of the economy. Indeed, the ICT sector alone is responsible for as much of the overall R&D investment gap as all other sectors combined. From the current data analysis, there are no signs of the ICT R&D investment gap closing. At ICT sector level, the R&D investment gap exists partly because the ICT sector is smaller in the EU than in the US and partly because of the lower R&D intensity of the sector in the EU. The lower R&D intensity is, in turn, primarily due to two sub-sectors: computer services and software on the one hand, and electronic measurement instruments on the other hand. On the positive side, and contrary to the rest of the ICT sector, these two sub-sectors also show strong R&D growth in the EU. Company data indicates that EU companies have R&D intensities similar to their US counterparts in every sub-sector, but are concentrated in less R&D intensive sub-sectors (e.g. telecom services). The US companies are also larger and more numerous in most sub-sectors. These data suggest that the ICT R&D gap between the US and the EU reflects, more than anything, a lack of European firms in the ICT sector. Among the member states, Finland and Sweden make the highest R&D effort in this sector, relative to their size. In general, Northern member states invest more than Southern member states, and the Western member states invest much more than the Eastern ones, which display very low levels of ICT R&D.JRC.J.4-Information Societ

The drivers and impediments for cross-border e-commerce in the EU

There are no official statistics on international online trade in goods so far. This paper uses a consumer survey to construct a unique matrix of online B2C domestic and cross-border trade in goods between the 27 EU Member States. We compare online and offline trade patterns for similar goods. We find that the standard gravity model performs well in explaining online cross-border trade flows. The model confirms the strong reduction in geographical distance-related trade costs, compared to offline trade. However, the trade costs associated with crossing language barriers increase when moving from offline to online trade. Institutional variables such as online payments facilities and cost-efficiency of parcel delivery systems might play a significant role in cross-border trade and our analysis confirms this. In a linguistically segmented market like the EU, online home market bias remains high compared to bias in offline cross-border trade. We conclude that it is hard to predict at this stage whether regulators could boost online cross-border trade through improvements in legal and financial systems, and parcel delivery infrastructure.JRC.J.3-Information Societ

Performance of ICT R&D

This report provides evidence on the inventive output of ICT R&D activity in the EU, the US and other regions and proposes an economic modelling framework for analysing the impact of the R&D processes. It uses patent statistics as a measure of output of the R&D process. According to the presented evidence, the annual number of ICT priority patent applications steadily increased in the period from the early 90s until 2001, it has remained stable since the burst of the dot.com bubble. This pattern can be observed for both the EU and the US, though the US absolute values are about twice the EU ones. Since the early 90s, the annual number of Asian (excluding Japan) ICT priority patent applications strongly increased due to two countries: South Korea and China.JRC.J.4-Information Societ

The 2010 Report on R&D in ICT in the European Union

This report is the 2010 edition of a report that is published annually. It presents all the data available on ICT R&D private and public expenditures in Europe, at sector, country and company levels, and from an international perspective (benchmarking). It provides data up to 2007. The second part of the report includes a thematic analysis on ICT R&D internationalisation.JRC.DDG.J.4-Information Societ

The 2011 Report on R&D in ICT in the European Union

This report is the 2011 edition of a report that is published annually. It presents all the data available on ICT R&D private and public expenditures in Europe, at sector, country and company levels, and from an international perspective (benchmarking). It provides data up to 2008.JRC.J.4-Information Societ

Business R&D in the ICT Sector: Examining the European ICT R&D Deficit

Two data sets are contrasted: country-level data (R&D performed by business in a particular sector and country (BERD) and company-level data (R&D financed by a particular company regardless where R&D investment is performed). About half of the overall EU vs. US R&D gap is in the information and communications technologies (ICT) sector. In turn, this ICT R&D gap has two faces. Country data suggest that the gap is largely intrinsic: the EU displays lower R&D intensities in several sub-sectors, while ICT sector size and composition are quite similar. On the other hand, company data suggest that the gap is instead structural: the sector size and composition of sub-sectors differ greatly, while R&D intensities are similar. One major explanatory factor lies in international flows of R&D and value added. Companies tend to allocate a larger share of their value added and a smaller share of R&D outside their home markets. In the sub-sectors which include much larger and more numerous US companies, these flows are unbalanced, and (BERD) R&D intensities are thus higher in the US than in Europe, everything else being equal.JRC.J.3-Information Societ

Mapping R&D Investment by the European ICT Business Sector

The paper shows that the ICT sector alone is responsible for about half the R&D investment gap between the EU and the US, i.e. the fact that EU invests a much smaller share of its GDP in R&D. It argues that this is partly because the ICT sector is a smaller part of the economy in the EU than it is in the US. More important, however, is the lower R&D intensity (business R&D / value added) of the ICT sector in the EU. This is mainly due to lower R&D intensity in two sub-sectors: Computer Services and Software, and Electronic Measurement Instruments. Current data analysis gives no indication that the ICT R&D gap is closing. The analysis further finds that among EU member states, Northern member states show higher ICT R&D intensity than Southern member states, and the Western member states a much higher intensity than the Eastern member states. The bulk of the paper then takes a closer look at each of the ICT sub-sectors, mapping out the R&D effort in each of them.JRC.J.4-Information Societ