IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/ecolab/v15y2004i1p99-127.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The ICT Sector, Growth and Productivity: Ireland and Australia Compared

Author

Listed:
  • Roy Green
  • John Burgess
  • Grant Turner

Abstract

This article compares the productivity and employment performance of the Australian and Irish economies over the 1990s, with particular emphasis on the different approaches to the role of information and communications technologies (ICT). Whereas Australia's performance is characterised by the application and diffusion of ICT across a number of sectors, with indirect productivity and employment effects, Ireland has become a major producer of ICT products and services in its own right. The article traces the implications of these approaches for the pattern of growth and employment in both economies and also indicates their limitations. Ireland's approach is limited by dependence on foreign investment, embodying externally generated technologies, though this is now being addressed by a policy interest in R&D support and the development of industry clusters and networks. On the other hand, Australia faces growing and possibly unsustainable deficits in its current account, driven by imports of knowledge-intensive goods and services, notwithstanding recent improvements in the terms of trade associated with higher prices for primary commodity exports.

Suggested Citation

  • Roy Green & John Burgess & Grant Turner, 2004. "The ICT Sector, Growth and Productivity: Ireland and Australia Compared," The Economic and Labour Relations Review, , vol. 15(1), pages 99-127, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ecolab:v:15:y:2004:i:1:p:99-127
    DOI: 10.1177/103530460401500105
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/103530460401500105
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/103530460401500105?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bart van Ark & Robert Inklaar & Robert H. McGuckin, 2003. "ICT and Productivity in Europe and the United States Where Do the Differences Come From?," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 49(3), pages 295-318.
    2. A Felstead & D Gallie & F Green, 2000. "Computers are even more important than you thought: An Analysis of the changing skill-intensity of jobs," CEP Discussion Papers dp0439, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    3. Dirk Pilat & Franck Lee, 2001. "Productivity Growth in ICT-producing and ICT-using Industries: A Source of Growth Differentials in the OECD?," OECD Science, Technology and Industry Working Papers 2001/4, OECD Publishing.
    4. Craig de Laine & Patrick Laplagne & Susan Stone, 2001. "The increasing demand for skilled workers in Australia: the role of technical change," Labor and Demography 0105005, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Stephen D. Oliner & Daniel E. Sichel, 2000. "The Resurgence of Growth in the Late 1990s: Is Information Technology the Story?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 14(4), pages 3-22, Fall.
    6. repec:dgr:rugccs:200311 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Ark, Bart van & Inklaar, Robert & McGuckin, Robert H., 2003. "ICT and productivity in Europe and the United States," CCSO Working Papers 200311, University of Groningen, CCSO Centre for Economic Research.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Raquel Ortega-Argilés, 2012. "The Transatlantic Productivity Gap: A Survey Of The Main Causes," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(3), pages 395-419, July.
    2. repec:dgr:rugggd:gd-79 is not listed on IDEAS
    3. M. Ishaq NADIRI & Banani NANDI, 2015. "Modern Communication Technology and its Economic Impact: A Survey of Research Findings," Communications & Strategies, IDATE, Com&Strat dept., vol. 1(100), pages 125-144, 4th quart.
    4. Robert Inklaar & Marcel P. Timmer & Bart Van Ark, 2007. "Mind the Gap! International Comparisons of Productivity in Services and Goods Production," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 8(2), pages 281-307, May.
    5. van Ark, Bart & Inklaar, Robert, 2006. "Catching up or getting stuck? Europe's troubles to exploit ICT's productivity potential," GGDC Research Memorandum GD-79, Groningen Growth and Development Centre, University of Groningen.
    6. repec:dgr:rugggd:gd-89 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Mounir Dahmani & Mohamed Mabrouki & Adel Ben Youssef, 2022. "The Information and Communication Technologies-Economic Growth Nexus in Tunisia - A Cross-Section Dynamic Panel Approach," Montenegrin Journal of Economics, Economic Laboratory for Transition Research (ELIT), vol. 18(2), pages 161-174.
    8. Stiroh Kevin & Botsch Matthew, 2007. "Information Technology and Productivity Growth in the 2000s," German Economic Review, De Gruyter, vol. 8(2), pages 255-280, May.
    9. 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.
    10. Simon Porcher, 2013. "Regulation and ICT capital input: empirical evidence from 10 OECD countries," Chapters, in: Mehmet Ugur (ed.), Governance, Regulation and Innovation, chapter 7, pages 182-196, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    11. Federico Biagi, 2013. "ICT and Productivity: A Review of the Literature," JRC Working Papers on Digital Economy 2013-09, Joint Research Centre.
    12. Elsadig Ahmed & Rahim Ridzuan, 2013. "The Impact of ICT on East Asian Economic Growth: Panel Estimation Approach," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 4(4), pages 540-555, December.
    13. repec:bla:germec:v:8:y:2007:i::p:255-280 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Aboal D. & Tacsir E., 2015. "Innovation and productivity in services and manufacturing : The role of ICT investment," MERIT Working Papers 2015-012, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    15. repec:bla:germec:v:8:y:2007:i::p:281-307 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Rafael Fernández & Enrique Palazuelos, 2009. "Labor productivity: a comparative analysis of the European Union and United States, for the period 1994-2007," Working Papers wp208, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
    17. Henry van der Wiel & George van Leeuwen, 2003. "Do ICT spillovers matter; evidence from Dutch firm-level data," CPB Discussion Paper 26, CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.
    18. Raquel Ortega-Argilés, 2013. "R&D, knowledge, economic growth and the transatlantic productivity gap," Chapters, in: Frank Giarratani & Geoffrey J.D. Hewings & Philip McCann (ed.), Handbook of Industry Studies and Economic Geography, chapter 11, pages 271-302, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    19. Diego Aboal & Ezequiel Tacsir, 2018. "Innovation and productivity in services and manufacturing: the role of ICT," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 27(2), pages 221-241.
    20. Daoqin TONG & Sandy DALL’ERBA, 2008. "Spatial Disparities In The Chinese Ict Sector: A Regional Analysis," Region et Developpement, Region et Developpement, LEAD, Universite du Sud - Toulon Var, vol. 28, pages 111-129.
    21. Bronwyn H. Hall & Francesca Lotti & Jacques Mairesse, 2013. "Evidence on the impact of R&D and ICT investments on innovation and productivity in Italian firms," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(3), pages 300-328, April.
    22. Matti Pohjola, 2002. "The New Economy in Growth and Development," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 18(3), pages 380-396.
    23. Harald Edquist & Magnus Henrekson, 2006. "Technological Breakthroughs and Productivity Growth," Research in Economic History, in: Research in Economic History, pages 1-53, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    24. Timmer, Marcel & Inklaar, Robert, 2005. "Productivity differentials in the U.S. and EU distributive trade sector: statistical myth or reality," GGDC Research Memorandum 200576, Groningen Growth and Development Centre, University of Groningen.

    More about this item

    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:sae:ecolab:v:15:y:2004:i:1:p:99-127. 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: SAGE Publications (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.