It’s Not What You Make, It’s How You Use IT: Measuring the Welfare Benefits of the IT Revolution Across Countries

July 1, 2002

Preview Citation

Format: Chicago

Tamim Bayoumi, and Markus Haacker. It’s Not What You Make, It’s How You Use IT: Measuring the Welfare Benefits of the IT Revolution Across Countries, (USA: International Monetary Fund, 2002) accessed November 21, 2024

Disclaimer: This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF.The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate

Summary

This paper analyzes the welfare benefits from falling relative prices of IT (information technology) goods across a wide range of countries. We find, using two separate methodologies and datasets, that welfare benefits mainly accrue to users of IT, not their producers, because of falling relative prices. This is important, as IT production and use are highly differentiated across countries, and implies that earlier work on how IT production affects real GDP, while useful in calibrating the overall benefits of the IT revolution, are a less valuable way of assessing the distribution of benefits.

Subject: Expenditure, Labor, National accounts, Price indexes, Prices, Production, Total factor productivity

Keywords: Africa, Demand curve, EDP goods, GDP, GDP deflator, Hedonic price indices, Information technology, IT goods, ITC goods, Price indexes, Real GDP, Technological change, Terms of trade, Total factor productivity, Welfare benefits, WP

Publication Details

Pages:

31
Volume:

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DOI:

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Issue:

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Series:

Working Paper No. 2002/117
Stock No:

WPIEA1172002
ISBN:

9781451854022
ISSN:

1018-5941

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