Diffusion of the Internet : A Cross-Country Analysis
This paper analyzes the process of Internet diffusion across the world using a panel of 199 countries during 1990-2004. The authors group countries in two categories-low and high-income countries-and show that the Internet diffusion process is well...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2012
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2007/12/8821826/diffusion-internet-cross-country-analysis http://hdl.handle.net/10986/7636 |
| Summary: | This paper analyzes the process of
Internet diffusion across the world using a panel of 199
countries during 1990-2004. The authors group countries in
two categories-low and high-income countries-and show that
the Internet diffusion process is well characterized by an
S-shape curve for both groups. Low-income countries display
a steeper diffusion curve that is equivalent to a right
shift of the diffusion curve for high-income countries. The
estimated diffusion curves provide evidence of a
"catching-up" process, although a very slow one.
The paper explores the determinants of Internet diffusion at
the country level and across the same income groups. The
most novel finding is that network effects seem to be
crucial-the number of Internet users in a country in a given
year is positively associated with the number of users in
the previous year. The findings also show that the degree of
competition in the provision of Internet service contributes
positively to its diffusion, and there are significant
positive language externalities. |
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