The Impact of Information and Communication Technology Use on Economic Growth

This paper studies the impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) use on economic growth in different countries and regions of the world. The results indicate that there is a positive relationship between growth rate of real GDP per capita and ICT use index (as measured by the number of Internet users, fixed broadband Internet subscribers and the number of mobile subscription per 100 inhabitants) for 159 countries over the world. This study also finds that ICT use in the high income group has a higher effect on economic growth than other groups. This implies that if these countries seek to enhance their economic growth, they need to implement specific policies that facilitate ICT use.