Does ICT Remain a Powerful Engine of Growth?

Abstract

ICT productive performances have slowed down since the beginning of the 2000s, before the current crisis. This diagnosis could be due, at least partly, to some statistical mis-measurements of ICT improvements. Nevertheless, improvements in ICT performances will probably be positively impacted, in some years, by large technological developments as for example the productive use, in computers, of the 3D chip. The lag of ICT diffusion in non-US developed countries, mainly Europe and Japan, compare to the US, is explained by institutional aspects: a lower education level, on average, of the working-age population and more regulations on labour and product markets. By implementing structural reforms, these countries could benefit from a productivity acceleration linked to a catch-up of the US ICT diffusion level. And they could benefit, without any delay with the US, from the possible ICT productivity growth second wave.