IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/osf/socarx/cfkxd.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Is Europe prepared to go digital? Making the case for developing digital capacity: an exploratory analysis of Eurostat survey data

Author

Listed:
  • van Kessel, Robin

    (Maastricht University)

  • Wong, Brian Li Han
  • Rubinic, Ivan
  • Czabanowska, Katarzyna

Abstract

Digital divides are globally recognised as a wicked problem that threatens to become the new face of inequality. They are formed by discrepancies in Internet access, digital skills, and tangible outcomes (e.g. health, economic) between populations. Previous studies indicated that Europe has an average Internet access rate of 90%, yet rarely specify for different demographics and does not report on the presence of digital skills. This exploratory analysis used the 2019 community survey on ICT usage in households and by individuals from Eurostat, which is a sample of the population aged 16-74 on Internet access and digital skills. The cross-country comparative analysis includes EEA and Switzerland. Data was collected between January and August 2019 and analysed between April and May 2021. Large differences in Internet access were observed (75-98%), especially between North-Western (94-98%) and South-Eastern Europe (75-87%). Low age, high education levels, employment, and living in an urban environment appear to positively influence the development of higher digital skills. The cross-country analysis exhibits a positive correlation between high capital stock and income/earnings and the digital skills development, while showing that the internet-access price bears marginal influence over digital literacy levels. The findings suggest Europe is current unable to host a sustainable digital society without exacerbating cross-country inequalities. Investment in building digital capacity in the general population should be the primary objective of European countries to ensure they can benefit maximally from the advancements of the Digital Era.

Suggested Citation

  • van Kessel, Robin & Wong, Brian Li Han & Rubinic, Ivan & Czabanowska, Katarzyna, 2021. "Is Europe prepared to go digital? Making the case for developing digital capacity: an exploratory analysis of Eurostat survey data," SocArXiv cfkxd, Center for Open Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:osf:socarx:cfkxd
    DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/cfkxd
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://osf.io/download/60c2ff14f3ce940239249052/
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.31219/osf.io/cfkxd?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. Robert C. Feenstra & Robert Inklaar & Marcel P. Timmer, 2015. "The Next Generation of the Penn World Table," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(10), pages 3150-3182, October.
    2. Hidalgo, Antonio & Gabaly, Samuel & Morales-Alonso, Gustavo & Urueña, Alberto, 2020. "The digital divide in light of sustainable development: An approach through advanced machine learning techniques," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    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. António Afonso & José Alves & Krzysztof Beck, 2022. "Pay and unemployment determinants of migration flows in the European Union," Working Papers REM 2022/0251, ISEG - Lisbon School of Economics and Management, REM, Universidade de Lisboa.
    2. Muhammad Shafiullah & Ravinthirakumaran Navaratnam, 2016. "Do Bangladesh and Sri Lanka Enjoy Export-Led Growth? A Comparison of Two Small South Asian Economies," South Asia Economic Journal, Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka, vol. 17(1), pages 114-132, March.
    3. Kumar, Sanjesh & Singh, Baljeet, 2019. "Barriers to the international diffusion of technological innovations," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 74-86.
    4. Volker Grossmann & Johannes Schünemann & Holger Strulik, 2024. "Fair Pension Policies with Occupation-Specific Ageing," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 134(663), pages 2835-2875.
    5. Brian McCaig & Margaret S. McMillan & Iñigo Verduzco-Gallo & Keith Jefferis, 2015. "Stuck in the Middle? Structural Change and Productivity Growth in Botswana," NBER Working Papers 21029, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Andrea Sáenz de Viteri Vázquez & Christian Bjørnskov, 2020. "Constitutional power concentration and corruption: evidence from Latin America and the Caribbean," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 31(4), pages 509-536, December.
    7. Z Fang & D Ding & C Guan, 2024. "Does Methodology Matter? Revisiting the Energy-growth Nexus in Asia Pacific Economies," Economic Issues Journal Articles, Economic Issues, vol. 29(1), pages 5-34, March.
    8. Wenju Cai & Yi Liu & Xiaopei Lin & Ziguang Li & Ying Zhang & David Newth, 2024. "Nonlinear country-heterogenous impact of the Indian Ocean Dipole on global economies," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.
    9. Manuel Funke & Moritz Schularick & Christoph Trebesch, 2023. "Populist Leaders and the Economy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 113(12), pages 3249-3288, December.
    10. Nyga-Łukaszewska Honorata & Napiórkowski Tomasz M., 2023. "Energy security as a source of international competitiveness in new EU member states," International Journal of Management and Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, Collegium of World Economy, vol. 59(3), pages 209-224, September.
    11. Otto Brøns-Petersen & Søren Havn Gjedsted, 2021. "Climate change and institutional change: what is the relative importance for economic performance?," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 23(2), pages 333-360, April.
    12. Martin Henseler & Ingmar Schumacher, 2019. "The impact of weather on economic growth and its production factors," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 154(3), pages 417-433, June.
    13. Vigvári, Gábor, 2022. "Transzformáció és a populizmus a visegrádi országokban [Transformation and populism in the V4 countries]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(3), pages 339-366.
    14. Chen, Shiu-Sheng, 2017. "Exchange rate undervaluation and R&D activity," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 148-160.
    15. Battisti, Michele & Gatto, Massimo Del & Parmeter, Christopher F., 2022. "Skill-biased technical change and labor market inefficiency," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    16. Alexander Bick & Bettina Brüggemann & Nicola Fuchs-Schündeln, 2016. "Hours Worked in Europe and the US: New Data, New Answers," CESifo Working Paper Series 6068, CESifo.
    17. Florent Silve & Alexander Plekhanov, 2018. "Institutions, innovation and growth : Evidence from industry data," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 26(3), pages 335-362, July.
    18. Fuest, Clemens & Hugger, Felix & Neumeier, Florian, 2022. "Corporate profit shifting and the role of tax havens: Evidence from German country-by-country reporting data," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 194(C), pages 454-477.
    19. Trenczek, Jan & Wacker, Konstantin M., 2023. "Human Capital Misallocation and Output per Worker Differences: Beyond Cobb-Douglas," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1331, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    20. Svenja Flechtner & Claudius Gräbner, 2019. "The heterogeneous relationship between income and inequality: a panel co-integration approach," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 39(4), pages 2540-2549.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:osf:socarx:cfkxd. 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: OSF (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://arabixiv.org .

    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.