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Internet, Educational Disparities, and Economic Growth: Differences Between Low-Middle and High-Income Countries

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Book cover Catalyzing Development through ICT Adoption

Abstract

This paper examines the influence of educational inequality on the impacts of Internet use on economic growth. We use panel data estimations on a sample of 90 countries from 1995 to 2010. We find that Internet use has a positive impact on growth in both developing and developed countries. Furthermore, we also find that educational inequality negatively influences the impact of Internet use on economic growth, the effect being more significant in developing countries. The results highlight that in addition to the role played by the level of human capital, public policies should take into account the educational distribution to boost Internet use and favor its impacts on economic growth.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    This expression is used in Checchi [77].

  2. 2.

    Brain drain migration has been growing significantly over the last decades, with an increase of 77% in the period 1990–2000, increasing more rapidly than the educational attainments in many developing countries, with negative impacts in these countries [83]. Furthermore, throughout the 1990s, the growth rate of international skilled migration was nearly triple that of unskilled migration, and most of that increase was due to skilled migration from developing to developed countries. The emigration rates in 2000 were three times higher than average for the highly educated and skilled and 12 times higher among emigrants from low-income countries [84].

  3. 3.

    Satellite networks, wireless infrastructure, and public-private partnerships might reduce the cost of Internet access drastically. In this context, recent initiatives to develop more affordable information and communication systems through satellites to reach rural areas have been implemented in some developing countries (see, e.g., the Ob3 project: http://www.o3bnetworks.com/3222).

  4. 4.

    More details about different measures to promote ICT adoption in developing countries and the relationship with educational, political, and social issues can be found in Keengwe and Malapile [88].

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Acknowledgments

Margarita Billon and Fernando Lera-Lopez acknowledge the financial support of the Spanish Ministry of Science (ECO2010-21393-C04-03 and ECO2013-48496-C4-2-R).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economic Structure and Development Economics, Autonomous University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Margarita Billon

  2. Department of Applied Economics, Autonomous University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Jorge Crespo

  3. Department of Economics, Public University of Navarre, Pamplona, Spain

    Fernando Lera-López

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  1. Margarita Billon
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  2. Jorge Crespo
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Correspondence to Margarita Billon .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science and Engineering, School of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Hamdard University, New Delhi, India

    Harleen Kaur

  2. Faculty of Management and Economics, Gdańsk University of Technology, Gdańsk, Poland

    Ewa Lechman

  3. Faculty of Management and Economics, Gdańsk University of Technology, Gdańsk, Poland

    Adam Marszk

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Billon, M., Crespo, J., Lera-López, F. (2017). Internet, Educational Disparities, and Economic Growth: Differences Between Low-Middle and High-Income Countries. In: Kaur, H., Lechman, E., Marszk, A. (eds) Catalyzing Development through ICT Adoption. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56523-1_5

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