Impact of Information and Communication Technology

The objective of this study is to explore the impacts of ICT investment on economic growth in a cross section of 52 Islamic countries using the data over the period 1995-2010. Panel data model is estimated for both steady-state regression and economic growth regression. According to the observed results، countries in the study are divided into two groups and the impact of ICT access، ICT usage and ICT skills indices on economic growth is estimated، separately. The findings show that the main engines of economic growth are ICT capital، non-ICT capital and human capital in a sample of 52 Islamic countries. ICT access and ICT usage has statistically significant effect on growth. However، the results confirm there is a stronger influence on economic growth in the sub-sample of countries that have relatively a higher ICT Index. Of course the impact of ICT access index and ICT usage index on economic growth in this group was not stable at the beginning of period while in the last few years; the trend has been positive and stable. Total elasticity of production with respect to ICT access and ICT usage for the first group of countries is about 0. 26 and for the second group of countries is about 0. 18. It is worth noting that the speed of convergence parameter shows that this rate is lower in the both groups of countries.