Not only Nokia: what Finland tells us about new economy growth

Most experts agree that IT played a substantial role in enhancing US productivity growth. But they disagree over the relative importance of IT production versus IT usage. This paper seeks to illuminate the usage-versus-production debate by looking beyond the US experience. In particular, it examines...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Economic policy 2004-04, Vol.19 (38), p.117-163
Main Authors: Daveri, Francesco, Silva, Olmo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Causality
Economic growth
Economic policy
Information technology
Studies
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Most experts agree that IT played a substantial role in enhancing US productivity growth. But they disagree over the relative importance of IT production versus IT usage. This paper seeks to illuminate the usage-versus-production debate by looking beyond the US experience. In particular, it examines the origins of what might be thought of as the only read new economy success story in Europe - Finlad. The results show a cleaqr link between information technology and Finland's outstanding porductivity growth since 1995. Altogether, evidence is interpreted as suggesting that, even in a country endowed with a world-class national champion and a policy environment commonly though of as conducive to growth, the new economy takes a long time to show up. And, in contradiction to commonly held tenets in public debates, IT diffusion has shown a limited potential in speeding up this process in Finland.
ISSN:0266-4658
1468-0327
DOI:10.1111/j.1468-0327.2004.00120.x