The Internet as a General-Purpose Technology : Firm-Level Evidence from Around the World

This paper uses firm-level data to assess whether telecommunication services are general-purpose technologies (technologies that benefit a large segment of the economy and have long-lasting effect). It finds that only Internet services are so: firm growth and productivity are much higher when Internet access is greater and when firms use the Internet more intensively; and Internet access benefits firms in high- and low-tech industries, firms of all sizes, and exporter and non-exporter firms. Small firms appear to benefit more from the Internet than large firms do. In contrast, fixed-line and cellular services are not robustly linked to firm performance.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Clarke, George R.G., Qiang, Christine Zhenwei, Xu, Lixin Colin
Language:	English en_US
Published:	World Bank Group, Washington, DC 2015-02
Subjects:	BROADBAND, BROADBAND SERVICES, BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT, BUSINESS ENVIRONMENTS, BUSINESSES, CELLULAR SERVICES, CODES, COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES, COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, ENTERPRISE SURVEY, ENTERPRISE SURVEYS, EQUIPMENT, FIRM SIZE, FIRMS, INTERNET SERVICES, LOCAL BUSINESS, LOCAL BUSINESSES, MANUFACTURING, MARKUP, MOBILE PHONE, OPEN ACCESS, PPP, PRIVATE SECTOR, PRIVATE SECTOR DEVELOPMENT, PRODUCTIVITY, RESULT, RESULTS, SAN, SMALL FIRMS, TELECOM, TELECOM SERVICES, TELECOMMUNICATION, TELECOMMUNICATION SERVICES, TELECOMMUNICATIONS, TELECOMMUNICATIONS INFRASTRUCTURE, TELECOMMUNICATIONS POLICY, TELECOMMUNICATIONS SERVICES, TELEPHONE, TRADE DATABASE, USES, WEB, WEBSITE, WEBSITES,
Online Access:	http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2015/02/23981049/internet-general-purpose-technology-firm-level-evidence-around-world https://hdl.handle.net/10986/21449
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