The Upside of Digital for the Middle East and North Africa : How Digital Technology Adoption Can Accelerate Growth and Create Jobs

The argument that digitalization fosters economic activity has been strengthened by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Because digital technologies are general-purpose technologies that are usable across a wide variety of economic activities, the gains from achieving universal coverage of digital service...

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Main Authors:	Cusolito, Ana Paula, Gévaudan, Clément, Lederman, Daniel, Wood, Christina A.
Format:	Book
Published:	Washington, DC: World Bank 2022
Subjects:	DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY EFFECTS OF TECHNOLOGY TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION ACCELERATED GROWTH TECHNOLOGY INFRASTRUCTURE
Online Access:	https://documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documents-reports/documentdetail/099039307072263321/idu0313e9dfc082ac049c009df7095020eef8689 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37058

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recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-370582022-08-01T19:38:49Z The Upside of Digital for the Middle East and North Africa : How Digital Technology Adoption Can Accelerate Growth and Create Jobs Cusolito, Ana Paula Gévaudan, Clément Lederman, Daniel Wood, Christina A. DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY EFFECTS OF TECHNOLOGY TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION ACCELERATED GROWTH TECHNOLOGY INFRASTRUCTURE The argument that digitalization fosters economic activity has been strengthened by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Because digital technologies are general-purpose technologies that are usable across a wide variety of economic activities, the gains from achieving universal coverage of digital services are likely to be large and shared throughout each economy. However, the Middle East and North Africa region suffers from a “digital paradox”: the region’s population uses social media more than expected for its level of gross domestic product (GDP) per capita but uses the internet or other digital tools to make payments less than expected. The Upside of Digital for the Middle East and North Africa: How Digital Technology Adoption Can Accelerate Growth and Create Jobs presents evidence that the socioeconomic gains of digitalizing the economies of the region are huge: GDP per capita could rise by more than 40 percent; manufacturing revenue per unit of factors of production could increase by 37 percent; employment in manufacturing could rise by 7 percent; tourist arrivals could rise by 70 percent, creating jobs in the hospitality sector; long-term unemployment rates could fall to negligible levels; and female labor force participation could double to more than 40 percent. To reap these gains, universal access to digital services is crucial, as is their widespread use for economic purposes. The book explores how fast the region could approach universal coverage, whether targeting the rollout of digital infrastructure services makes a difference, and what is needed to increase the use of digital payment tools. The authors find that targeting underserved populations and areas can accelerate the achievement of universal access, while fostering competition and improving the functioning of financial and telecommunications sectors can encourage the adoption of digital technologies. In addition, building societal trust in the government and in related institutions such as banks and financial services is critical for fostering the increased use of digital payment tools. 2022-03-02T20:00:23Z 2022-03-02T20:00:23Z 2022-03-16 Book https://documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documents-reports/documentdetail/099039307072263321/idu0313e9dfc082ac049c009df7095020eef8689 978-1-4648-1663-5 978-1-4648-1664-2 (electronic) http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37058 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank Washington, DC: World Bank Middle East and North Africa Middle East North Africa
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
topic	DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY EFFECTS OF TECHNOLOGY TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION ACCELERATED GROWTH TECHNOLOGY INFRASTRUCTURE
spellingShingle	DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY EFFECTS OF TECHNOLOGY TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION ACCELERATED GROWTH TECHNOLOGY INFRASTRUCTURE Cusolito, Ana Paula Gévaudan, Clément Lederman, Daniel Wood, Christina A. The Upside of Digital for the Middle East and North Africa : How Digital Technology Adoption Can Accelerate Growth and Create Jobs
geographic_facet	Middle East and North Africa Middle East North Africa
description	The argument that digitalization fosters economic activity has been strengthened by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Because digital technologies are general-purpose technologies that are usable across a wide variety of economic activities, the gains from achieving universal coverage of digital services are likely to be large and shared throughout each economy. However, the Middle East and North Africa region suffers from a “digital paradox”: the region’s population uses social media more than expected for its level of gross domestic product (GDP) per capita but uses the internet or other digital tools to make payments less than expected. The Upside of Digital for the Middle East and North Africa: How Digital Technology Adoption Can Accelerate Growth and Create Jobs presents evidence that the socioeconomic gains of digitalizing the economies of the region are huge: GDP per capita could rise by more than 40 percent; manufacturing revenue per unit of factors of production could increase by 37 percent; employment in manufacturing could rise by 7 percent; tourist arrivals could rise by 70 percent, creating jobs in the hospitality sector; long-term unemployment rates could fall to negligible levels; and female labor force participation could double to more than 40 percent. To reap these gains, universal access to digital services is crucial, as is their widespread use for economic purposes. The book explores how fast the region could approach universal coverage, whether targeting the rollout of digital infrastructure services makes a difference, and what is needed to increase the use of digital payment tools. The authors find that targeting underserved populations and areas can accelerate the achievement of universal access, while fostering competition and improving the functioning of financial and telecommunications sectors can encourage the adoption of digital technologies. In addition, building societal trust in the government and in related institutions such as banks and financial services is critical for fostering the increased use of digital payment tools.
format	Book
author	Cusolito, Ana Paula Gévaudan, Clément Lederman, Daniel Wood, Christina A.
author_facet	Cusolito, Ana Paula Gévaudan, Clément Lederman, Daniel Wood, Christina A.
author_sort	Cusolito, Ana Paula
title	The Upside of Digital for the Middle East and North Africa : How Digital Technology Adoption Can Accelerate Growth and Create Jobs
title_short	The Upside of Digital for the Middle East and North Africa : How Digital Technology Adoption Can Accelerate Growth and Create Jobs
title_full	The Upside of Digital for the Middle East and North Africa : How Digital Technology Adoption Can Accelerate Growth and Create Jobs
title_fullStr	The Upside of Digital for the Middle East and North Africa : How Digital Technology Adoption Can Accelerate Growth and Create Jobs
title_full_unstemmed	The Upside of Digital for the Middle East and North Africa : How Digital Technology Adoption Can Accelerate Growth and Create Jobs
title_sort	upside of digital for the middle east and north africa : how digital technology adoption can accelerate growth and create jobs
publisher	Washington, DC: World Bank
publishDate	2022
url	https://documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documents-reports/documentdetail/099039307072263321/idu0313e9dfc082ac049c009df7095020eef8689 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37058
_version_	1764486519376052224

The Upside of Digital for the Middle East and North Africa : How Digital Technology Adoption Can Accelerate Growth and Create Jobs

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