IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ebl/ecbull/eb-18-00912.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

ICT diffusion and employment in Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Louis de Berquin Eyike Mbongo

    (University of Dschang)

Abstract

The main aim of this study is to check the impact of the rapid diffusion of ICTs in Africa on the volume and structure of employment. First, to analyze the impact of ICT diffusion on the volume of employment, we estimate a dynamic panel model using the GMM method on a sample of 20 African countries over the period 1995-2015. In a second step, from a contextual redefinition of the hypothesis of skill-biased technological change, we empirically test the validity of this hypothesis for our panel. To do this, we also estimate a dynamic model by the estimators mentioned above. The results show that ICT diffusion is favorable to employment in general, and to youth employment in particular.

Suggested Citation

  • Louis de Berquin Eyike Mbongo, 2019. "ICT diffusion and employment in Africa," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 39(1), pages 521-532.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-18-00912
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.accessecon.com/Pubs/EB/2019/Volume39/EB-19-V39-I1-P52.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Raurich, Xavier & Sala, Hector & Sorolla, Valeri, 2012. "Factor shares, the price markup, and the elasticity of substitution between capital and labor," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 181-198.
    2. John Hutchinson & Damiaan Persyn, 2012. "Globalisation, concentration and footloose firms: in search of the main cause of the declining labour share," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 148(1), pages 17-43, April.
    3. Arellano, Manuel & Bover, Olympia, 1995. "Another look at the instrumental variable estimation of error-components models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 29-51, July.
    4. Timothy F. Bresnahan & Erik Brynjolfsson & Lorin M. Hitt, 2002. "Information Technology, Workplace Organization, and the Demand for Skilled Labor: Firm-Level Evidence," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 117(1), pages 339-376.
    5. Vivarelli, Marco, 2007. "Innovation and Employment: A Survey," IZA Discussion Papers 2621, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Blundell, Richard & Bond, Stephen, 1998. "Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 115-143, August.
    7. Maarten Goos & Alan Manning, 2007. "Lousy and Lovely Jobs: The Rising Polarization of Work in Britain," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 89(1), pages 118-133, February.
    8. Sinclair, Peter J N, 1981. "When Will Technical Progress Destroy Jobs?," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 33(1), pages 1-18, March.
    9. Feldmann, Horst, 2009. "The unemployment effects of labor regulation around the world," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 76-90, March.
    10. Chris Freeman & Luc Soete, 1997. "The Economics of Industrial Innovation, 3rd Edition," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 3, volume 1, number 0262061953, April.
    11. Driver, Ciaran & Muñoz-Bugarin, Jair, 2010. "Capital investment and unemployment in Europe: Neutrality or not?," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 492-496, March.
    12. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    13. Freeman, Richard B., 1998. "War of the models: Which labour market institutions for the 21st century?1," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 1-24, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Honoré Tekam Oumbé & Ronald Djeunankan & Alain Mekia Ndzana, 2023. "Does information and communication technologies affect economic complexity?," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 3(4), pages 1-25, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ebaidalla Mahjoub Ebaidalla, 2015. "Do ICTs Reduce Youth Unemployment in MENA Countries?," Working Papers 964, Economic Research Forum, revised Nov 2015.
    2. Amaka G. Metu & Emmanuel Ajudua & Ifeoma Eboh & Chimezie Ukeje & Chekwube Madichie, 2020. "Ending youth unemployment in sub‐saharan Africa: Does ICT development have any role?," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 32(S1), pages 20-31, November.
    3. David Kim & Woo‐Yung Kim, 2020. "What drives the labor share of income in South Korea? A regional analysis," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(3), pages 1304-1335, September.
    4. López, Alberto, 2012. "Productivity effects of ICTs and organizational change: A test of the complementarity hypothesis in Spain," MPRA Paper 40400, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. T. Gries & R. Grundmann & I. Palnau & M. Redlin, 2017. "Innovations, growth and participation in advanced economies - a review of major concepts and findings," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 293-351, April.
    6. Francesco Bogliacino & Marco Vivarelli, 2012. "The Job Creation Effect Of R&D Expenditures," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(2), pages 96-113, June.
    7. Sergey Lychagin & Joris Pinkse & Margaret E. Slade & John Van Reenen, 2016. "Spillovers in Space: Does Geography Matter?," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(2), pages 295-335, June.
    8. Davide Consoli & Francesco Vona & Francesco Rentocchini, 2016. "That was then, this is now: skills and routinization in the 2000s," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 25(5), pages 847-866.
    9. Francesco Bogliacino & Mariacristina Piva & Marco Vivarelli, 2011. "The impact of R&D on employment in Europe: A firm-level analysis," DISCE - Quaderni del Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali dises1176, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    10. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/2ajduu0gqt9ho8h2tavbin6ops is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Antonis Adam & Antonios Garas & Marina-Selini Katsaiti & Athanasios Lapatinas, 2023. "Economic complexity and jobs: an empirical analysis," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(1), pages 25-52, January.
    12. Chee‐Hong Law & Siong Hook Law, 2024. "The non‐linear impacts of innovation on unemployment: Evidence from panel data," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(1), pages 402-424, January.
    13. Maliranta, Mika & Rouvinen, Petri, 2003. "Productivity Effects of ICT in Finnish Business," Discussion Papers 852, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy.
    14. Andrea Bassanini & Thomas Manfredi, 2014. "Capital’s grabbing hand? A cross-industry analysis of the decline of the labor share in OECD countries," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 4(1), pages 3-30, June.
    15. Hempell, Thomas, 2002. "What's Spurious, What's Real? Measuring the Productivity Impacts of ICT at the Firm-Level," ZEW Discussion Papers 02-42, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    16. Taha Havakhor & Rajiv Sabherwal & Zachary R. Steelman & Sanjiv Sabherwal, 2019. "Relationships Between Information Technology and Other Investments: A Contingent Interaction Model," Service Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(1), pages 291-305, March.
    17. Mariacristina Piva & Marco Vivarelli, 2007. "Is demand-pulled innovation equally important in different groups of firms?," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 31(5), pages 691-710, September.
    18. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/2ajduu0gqt9ho8h2tavbin6ops is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Lin, Tzu-Yu & Chiu, Sheng-Hsiung & Yang, Hai-Lan, 2022. "Performance evaluation for regional innovation systems development in China based on the two-stage SBM-DNDEA model," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    20. Francesco Bogliacino & Mariacristina Piva & Marco Vivarelli, 2011. "The impact of R&D on employment in Europe: A firm-level analysis," DISCE - Quaderni del Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali dises1176, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    21. Barge-Gil, Andrés & López, Alberto, 2013. "R&D and productivity: In search of complementarity between research and development activities," MPRA Paper 43808, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    22. Dimelis, Sophia P. & Papaioannou, Sotiris K., 2011. "ICT growth effects at the industry level: A comparison between the US and the EU," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 37-50, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ICTs; Employment;

    JEL classification:

    • O3 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights
    • E2 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-18-00912. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: John P. Conley (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.