Global Transition Online
This paper presents new evidence on the growth of digital technology in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It uses the largest and most comprehensive database available to analyze website birth dynamics and the uptake of website technologies. The d...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Washington, DC: World Bank
2022
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/479621646326478059/Global-Transition-Online http://hdl.handle.net/10986/37103 |
| Summary: | This paper presents new evidence on
the growth of digital technology in response to the COVID-19
pandemic. It uses the largest and most comprehensive
database available to analyze website birth dynamics and the
uptake of website technologies. The database comprises 150
million active websites and 27,000 technologies. The
findings show that, over 2020, there was rapid adoption of
both e-commerce and online payments across all countries,
with greatest rates of adoption in countries that had lower
initial levels of technology use. The timing of COVID-19
lockdowns strongly predicts increased use of these
technologies, accounting for about a third of the overall
increase in e-commerce or online payments usage over 2020.
More importantly the shock appears to have resulted in a
shift in trend more so than a shift in level, suggesting
that COVID-19 may have transformed the trajectory of online
market growth. |
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