Economic Annals 2015 Volume 60, Issue 207, Pages: 95-115
https://doi.org/10.2298/EKA1507095M
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Broadband adoption, digital divide, and the global economic competitiveness of Western Balkan countries
Mitrović Đorđe (Faculty of Economics, Belgrade)
The existing variation in economic performance between countries is
significantly affected by the level, diffusion, and use of different types of
information and communication technology. In the last several years economic
competitiveness increasingly depends on broadband availability and the
adoption, use, and speed of this technology. Broadband access to the internet
fosters economic growth and development and increases a country’s global
competitiveness. This technology could have a big impact on the competitive
advantage of Western Balkan countries because they currently experience a
large digital divide, both within countries (between regions, urban and rural
areas, different vulnerable groups, etc.) and with EU countries. The purpose
of the paper is to analyse the current level and dynamics of the digital
divide in Western Balkan countries using the Broadband Achievement Index
(BAI), the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA)-based model, the Global
Competitiveness Index (GCI), the Corruption Perception Index (CPI), and
cross-country methodology. This paper measures and compares Western Balkan
countries’ current level of broadband adoption and their position on the
evolutionary path towards closing the existing economic and digital gap with
EU countries. Comparative analysis of calculated BAI data values, GCI, and
CPI shows that Western Balkan countries belong to the ‘laggard’ group
regarding their broadband achievement and global economic competitiveness.
The values of the calculated BAI sub-indexes in this paper indicate the
strong and weak sides of the corresponding aspects of broadband technology
implementation and give directions for setting further priorities for
political intervention, not only in the building of information society but
also in the improvement of the economic competitiveness of Western Balkan
countries.
Keywords: digital divide, broadband, economic growth, competiveness