An Empirical Investigation on associated linkage between Human Development and ICT: A South Asian Perspective

Gupta, Sunita and Jain, Megha and Nagpal, Aishwarya (2019): An Empirical Investigation on associated linkage between Human Development and ICT: A South Asian Perspective.

Abstract

In the wake of industrial revolution in the late 18th and 19th centuries, technology as a seminal force has impacted everything and its effects are much more beyond the pertinent human comprehension. Most of the studies use per capita GDP as a measure to map the economic well-being of any nation but it is a narrower indicator. Human development could be considered to be the key that acts as a binding force to absorb the technological driven advancements. Taking this perspective, we contemplate the emergent prerequisite of finding the association between human capital development and information & communication technology (ICT) framework. The current study attempts to analyze how advancement in ICT could promote human capital development with special reference to South Asian Region (SAR) over the period 2000-16 by employing panel fixed effects modeling. Where, social human capital is proxied by the Human Development Index (HDI) and the the ICT penetration is measured by the parameters like technological readiness, mobile cellular subscriptions, and internet penetration. This is supplemented by other key macroeconomic control variables like population growth, urbanization sprawl, etc. in order to obtain an umbrella view. In order to have an in-depth understanding, individual component level linkages of HDI such as per capita GDP, birth life expectancy and school enrollment rate with ICT and other macroeconomic demographic indicators are also tested separately.The empirical analysis results hint towards the strong positive associations of internet penetration, technological readiness, and mobile usage with the human development index. The overall results are found to be in sync with the key findings. Therefore, the study recommends a cohesive ecosystem that could amalgamate technological space with HDI in the contemporary framework. The study further concludes with the key policy implications.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: ICT, Human Development, Human Social Capital Development, Mobile, Internet, GDP, South Asia
• Subjects: O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development > O11 - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development > O15 - Human Resources ; Human Development ; Income Distribution ; Migration; O - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development > O19 - International Linkages to Development ; Role of International Organizations

References

Asongu, S. A., & Le Roux, S. (2017). Enhancing ICT for inclusive human development in Sub-Saharan Africa. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 118, 44-54.

Asongu, S. A., & Tchamyou, V. S. (2019). Foreign aid, education and lifelong learning in Africa. Journal of the Knowledge Economy, 10(1), 126-146.

Appadurai, A. (1996). Modernity al large: cultural dimensions of globalization (Vol. 1). U of Minnesota Press.

Bankole, F. O., Shirazi, F., & Brown, I. (2011). Investigating the impact of ICT investments on human development. The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries, 48(1), 1-19.

Castells, M. (2000). Toward a sociology of the network society. Contemporary sociology, 29(5), 693-698.

Castells, M. (2010). Globalisation, networking, urbanisation: Reflections on the spatial dynamics of the information age. Urban Studies, 47(13), 2737-2745.

Chan, A., & Jia, T. (2011). The role of mobile banking in facilitating rural finance: reducing inequality in financial services between urban and rural areas. Accenture Banking Services, http://www. accenture. com/SiteCollectionDocuments/PDF/PoV-Mobile-Banking 051611-EN. pdf (Accessed: 17/03/2015).

Coleman, J. S. (1988). Social capital in the creation of human capital. American journal of sociology, 94, S95-S120.

Colecchia, A., & Schreyer, P. (2002). ICT investment and economic growth in the 1990s: is the United States a unique case?: a comparative study of nine OECD countries. Review of Economic Dynamics, 5(2), 408-442.

Datta, P., Byrd, T. A., Okoli, C., & Mbarika, V. W (2005). The neglected continent of IS research: A research agenda for sub-Saharan Africa. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 6(5), 6.

Daveri, F. (2002). The new economy in Europe, 1992–2001. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 18(3), 345-362.

Greig JM. 2002. The End of Geography?: Globalization, Communications, and Culture in the International System. Journal of Conflict Resolution 45 (2): 225-243.

Guillen MF, and SL Suarez. 2005. Explaining the Global Digital Divide: Economic, Political and Sociological Drivers of Cross-National Internet Use. Social Forces 84(2): 681-708.

Haq M. 1995. Reflections on Human Development. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Hettiarachchi, C. (2006). Role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in human development in South Asia. Sri Lanka: Department of Management of Technology, University of Moratuwa.

Hill M. 2007. Confronting Power through Policy: On the Creation and Spread of Liberating Knowledge. Journal of Human Development 8 (2): 259-282.

Human Development Index (HDI) Database, Available at http://hdr.undp.org/en/data

ICT Indicators Database, Available at https://www.itu.int/en/ITUD/Statistics/Pages/publication/wtid.aspx

Islam, T., & Meade, N. (2012). The impact of competition, and economic globalization on the multinational diffusion of 3G mobile phones. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 79(5), 843-850.

Jalava, J., & Pohjola, M. (2002). Economic growth in the new economy: Evidence from advanced economies. Information Economics and policy, 14(2), 189-210.

Kim, Y. J., Kang, H., Sanders, G. L., & Lee, S. Y. T (2008). Differential effects of IT investments: Complementarity and effect of GDP level. International Journal of Information Management, 28(6), 508-516.

Kirui, O. K., Okello, J. J., Nyikal, R. A., & Njiraini, G. W. (2013). Impact of mobile phone-based money transfer services in agriculture: evidence from Kenya. Quarterly Journal of International Agriculture, 52(892-2016-65177), 141.

Kliner, M., Knight, A., Mamvura, C., Wright, J., & Walley, J. (2013). Using no-cost mobile phone reminders to improve attendance for HIV test results: a pilot study in rural Swaziland. Infectious Diseases of poverty, 2(1), 12.

Kuyoro Shade, O., Awodele, O., & Okolie Samuel, O.(2012). ICT: an effective tool in human development.International Journal of Humanities and Social Science, 2(7), 157-162.

Kuada, J. (2015). Private enterprise-led economic development in Sub-Saharan Africa: the human side of growth. Springer.

Mason, R. O. (1986). Four ethical issues of the information age. Mis Quarterly, 5-12.

Maffey, G., Homans, H., Banks, K., & Arts, K. (2015). Digital technology and human development: A charter for nature conservation. Ambio, 44(4), 527-537.

Maurer, B. (2008). Retail electronic payments systems for value transfers in the developing world. Department of Anthropology, University of California.

Mir, M., & Dangerfield, B. (2013). Propagating a digital divide: Diffusion of mobile telecommunication services in Pakistan. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 80(5), 992-1001.

Mishra, V., & Bisht, S. S. (2013). Mobile banking in a developing economy: A customer-centric model for policy formulation. Telecommunications Policy, 37(6-7), 503-514.

Mpogele, H., Usanga, H., & Tedre, M. (2008). Mobile phones and poverty alleviation: a survey study in rural Tanzania.

Ngwenyama, O., Andoh‐Baidoo, F. K., Bollou, F., & Morawczynski, O. (2006). Is there a relationship between ICT, health, education and development? An empirical analysis of five West African countries from 1997–2003. The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries, 23(1), 1-11.

Ojo, A., Janowski, T., & Awotwi, J. (2013). Enabling development through governance and mobile technology. Government Information Quarterly, 30, S32-S45.

Ondiege, P. (2010). Mobile banking in Africa: taking the bank to the people. Africa Economic Brief, 1(8), 1-16.

Oulton, N. (2002) ICT and Productivity Growth in the United Kingdom. Oxford Review of Economy Policy, 18, 3, 363-369.

Romer, P. M. (1990). Endogenous technological change. Journal of political Economy, 98(5, Part 2), S71-S102.

Rosser, B.A., Vowles, K.E., Keough, E., Eccleston, C., Mountain, G.A., 2009. Technology-assisted behaviour change: a systematic review of studies of novel technologies for the management of chronic illness. Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare 15 (7), 327–338.

Singh, A. B. (2012). Mobile banking based money order for India Post: Feasible model and assessing demand potential. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 37, 466-481.

Stiroh, K. J. (2002). Information technology and the US productivity revival: what do the industry data say?. American Economic Review, 92(5), 1559-1576.

Solow, R. M. (1994). Perspectives on growth theory. Journal of economic perspectives, 8(1), 45-54.

Ssozi, J. O. H. N., & Asongu, S. A. (2015). The effects of remittances on output per worker in sub-Saharan Africa: a production function approach. South African Journal of Economics, 2015, 2.

Technological Readiness Index Database, World Bank, Available at https://tcdata360.worldbank.org/indicators/hf74f651d

Pena-Lopez, I. (2001). Human Development Report 2001. Making New Technologies Work for Human Development.

United Nations Development Programme. 2009. Information and Communication Technologies and Migration: Human Development Research Paper 2009/39. Jean-Yves Hamel.

UNDP. (2004). ICT and Human Development: Towards Building a Composite Index for Asia: Realising the Millenium Development Goals. Elsevier.

Uzawa, H. (1965). Optimum technical change in an aggregative model of economic growth. International economic review, 6(1), 18-31.

Verspagen, B. (1992). Uneven growth between interdependent economies: an evolutionary view on technology gaps, trade and growth. Maastricht University.

World Development Indicators Database, Available at https://databank.worldbank.org/data/source/world development-indicators#

Wang, E. H. H. (1999). ICT and economic development in Taiwan: analysis of the evidence. Telecommunications Policy, 23(3-4), 235-243.

Zhenwei Qiang, C., Yamamichi, M., Hausman, V., & Altman, D. (2011). Mobile Applications for the Health Sector. ICT Sector Unit, World Bank. December.