The Return on Information Technology: Who Benefits Most?

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Dhyne, Emmanuel; Konings, Jozef; Van den Bosch, Jeroen; Vanormelingen, Stijn
• 署名单位: European Central Bank; National Bank of Belgium; University of Mons; University of Liverpool; KU Leuven; Centre for Economic Policy Research - UK; Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre
• 刊物名称: INFORMATION SYSTEMS RESEARCH
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1047-7047
• DOI: 10.1287/isre.2020.0960
• 发表日期: 2021
• 页码: 194-211
• 关键词: firm performance; Aggregate productivity; UNITED-STATES; IMPACT; PARADOX; GROWTH; investments; variables; LABOR

摘要

This paper uses a new microdata set of business-to-business firm-level transactions in Belgium to construct a measure of information and communication technology (ICT) investment at the firm level, which we combine with the income statement of firms to analyze the impact of ICT on productivity. We find that a firm investing an additional euro in ICT increases value added by 1 euro and 35 cents on average. This marginal product of ICT investment increases with firm size and varies across sectors. Although we find substantial returns of ICT at the firm level, such returns are much lower at the aggregate level. This is due to underinvestment in ICT (ICT capital deepening is low) and misallocation of ICT investments.