The Infrastructure, Usage and Spillover Impacts of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on Economic Growth (EG) in Developing Countries

Analysis of ICT impacts on the economic performance has been started since 1990s. Researches have found different results about ICT outcomes in different countries at macro level. The aim of this paper is to investigate the impacts of ICT on the EG in developing countries using the steady state growth theory in the period of 1995-2003 for a sample of 51 developing countries and different sub samples. This paper uses three types of variables for ICT; fixed line phone penetration and network index (ICT infrastructure), internet penetration and ICT-use index (ICT usage), and ICT expenditure (spillover effect) to estimate the benefits of ICT. Findings state that non-ICT capital, fixed line phone and internet penetration, network index, ICT-use index, ICT/GDP, ICT per capita and trade openness have positive effects, while inflation rate and population growth rate have negative effects on the EG in developing countries. The effect of human capital on the EG isn’t stable. In addition, the economic convergency is confirmed in the mentioned countries. The paper concludes that ICT affects the EG in three ways: ICT as a sector, ICTusage, and ICT diffusion throughout the economy. So, it seems that the “Productivity Paradox” does not appear in developing countries.