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It’s Not What You Make, It’s How You Use IT: Measuring the Welfare Benefits of the IT Revolution Across Countries
Author:
Mr. Tamim Bayoumi
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and
Mr. Markus Haacker
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Series:
IMF Working Papers
Volume/Issue:
Volume 2002: Issue 117
Language:
English
Publication Date:
01 Jul 2002
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5089/9781451854022.001
ISBN:
9781451854022
ISSN:
1018-5941
Pages:
31
Keywords:
WP; IT goods; real GDP; GDP; Technological change; information technology; terms of trade; welfare benefits; demand curve; GDP deflator; EDP goods; ITC goods; hedonic price indices; Price indexes; Total factor productivity; Africa
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IMF Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to encourage debate. The views expressed in IMF Working Papers are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF, its Executive Board, or IMF management.
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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.
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Cover IMF Working Papers
IMF Working Papers
ISSN:
1018-5941
Publisher:
International Monetary Fund