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Social Science > Demography

You are looking at 1 - 10 of 15 items for :

  • Type: Journal Issue x
  • Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights: General x
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Cover Selected Issues Papers
Transforming the Future: The Impact of Artificial Intelligence in Korea
Soo Jung Chang
,
Hamin Lee
,
Sumin Lee
,
Samil Oh
,
Zexi Sun
, and
Xin Cindy Xu
This paper examines the economic impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Korea. Korea is among the global frontrunners in AI adoption, with higher adoption rates among larger, younger, and technologically advanced firms. AI holds the promise for boosting productivity and output, though the effects are more pronounced among larger and mature Korean firms. About half of jobs are exposed to AI, with higher exposures among female, younger, more educated, and higher income workers. Korea’s strong innovation and digital infrastructure highlights its AI readiness, while enhancing labor market flexibility and social safety nets are essential to fully harness AI’s potential.
Keywords:
Artificial Intelligence; AI; labor market; productivity; growth; E. AI preparedness; profitability regression; preparedness index; AI adoption; B. AI adoption; Aging; Labor market policy; Global
Cover IMF Working Papers
Prometheus Unbound: What Makes Fintech Grow?
Serhan Cevik
The rise of financial technologies—fintech—could have transformative effects on the financial landscape, expanding the reach of services beyond the confines of geography and creating new competitive sources of finance for households and firms. But what makes fintech grow? Why do some countries have more financial innovation than others? In this paper, I use a comprehensive dataset to investigate the emergence and spread of fintech in a diverse panel of 98 countries over the period 2012–2020. This empirical analysis helps ascertain economic, demographic, technological and institutional factors that enable the development of fintech. The magnitude and statistical significance of these factors vary according to the type of fintech instrument and the level of economic development (advanced economies vs. developing countries). Finally, these findings reveal that policies and structural reforms can help promote financial innovation and cultivate fintech ventures—particularly by strengthening technological and institutional infrastructures and reducing cybersecurity threats.
Keywords:
Fintech; financial innovation; technological change; cybersecurity threat; fintech venture; copyright page; government stability foster fintech growth; fintech transaction; Digital financial services; Financial sector development; Population growth; Europe
Cover IMF Working Papers
E-Commerce During COVID in Spain: One “Click” Does Not Fit All
Prachi Mishra
,
Alvaro Ortiz
,
Tomasa Rodrigo
,
Antonio Spilimbergo
, and
Sirenia Vazquez
The share of e-commerce in total credit-card spending boomed during Covid in Spain. In particular, women, youth, and urban consumers used e-commerce proportionally more during the pandemic, especially for services. Using a unique proprietary dataset on credit card transactions, we test conjectures about consumers’ behavior (based on fear, hoarding, or learning) during Covid. Overall, e-commerce share reverted to its pre-Covid trend as the pandemic waned. However, some consumers with lower pre-Covid e-commerce usage tend to permanently use more e-commerce, supporting the conjecture of “learning by locking” for these individuals.
Keywords:
e-commerce; Covid; learning; e-commerce share; aggregate consumption e-commerce; Covid trend; share of e-commerce; Covid e-commerce usage; COVID-19; Consumption; Total expenditures; Europe
Cover IMF Working Papers
Estimating Digital Infrastructure Investment Needs to Achieve Universal Broadband
Edward Oughton
,
Mr. David Amaglobeli
, and
Mr. Mariano Moszoro
We develop a detailed model to evaluate the necessary investment requirements to achieve affordable universal broadband. The results indicate that approximately $418 billion needs to be mobilized to connect all unconnected citizens globally (targeting 40-50 GB/Month per user with 95 percent reliability). The bulk of additional investment is for emerging market economies (73 percent) and low-income developing countries (24 percent). We also find that if the data consumption level is lowered to 10-20 GB/Month per user, the total cost decreases by up to about half, whereas raising data consumption to 80-100 GB/Month per user leads to a cost increase of roughly 90 percent relative to the baseline. Moreover, a 40 percent cost decrease occurs when varying the peak hour quality of service level from the baseline 95 percent reliability, to only 50 percent reliability. To conclude, broadband policy assessments should be explicit about the quantity of data and the reliability of service provided to users. Failure to do so will lead to inaccurate estimates and, ultimately, to poor broadband policy decisions.
Keywords:
Broadband; Digital Infrastructure; Public Investment; Sustainable Development Goals; cost decrease; investment requirement; infrastructure investment; cost sensitivity; data consumption; policy assessment; estimation metrics; cost driver; data traffic; infrastructure cost modeling; Digitalization; Infrastructure; Emerging and frontier financial markets; Sub-Saharan Africa; Global; Caribbean; Central Asia and the Caucasus; Asia and Pacific
Cover IMF Working Papers
Agglomeration, Innovation, and Spatial Reallocation: The Aggregate Effects of R&D Tax Credits
Alexandre Sollaci
I investigate the aggregate effects of R&D tax credits in the US. Because it subsidizes R&D activity and because credit rates vary between states, this policy has both spatial and dynamic effects on the economy. To address this issue, I construct an endogenous growth model with spatial heterogeneity and agglomeration spillovers in innovation. Aggregate outcomes in this model are thus affected by the spatial distribution of the population in the economy, which is itself endogenous and reacts to policy. I use this framework to identify a set of local R&D subsidies that maximize aggregate welfare.
Keywords:
agglomeration; innovation; R&D tax credits; R&D activity; R&D subsidy; R&D tax credit rate; aggregate outcome; Tax allowances; Credit ratings; Productivity; Wages; Global; elasticity of agglomeration; welfare effect; elasticity of congestion
Cover IMF Working Papers
Measuring Digital Financial Inclusion in Emerging and Developing Economies: A New Index
Purva Khera
,
Miss Stephanie Y Ng
,
Ms. Sumiko Ogawa
, and
Ms. Ratna Sahay
Adoption of technology in the financial services industry (i.e. fintech) has been accelerating in recent years. To systematically and comprehensively assess the extent and progress over time in financial inclusion enabled by technology, we develop a novel digital financial inclusion index. This index is based on payments data covering 52 developing countries for 2014 and 2017, taking into account both access and usage dimentions of digital financial services (DFSs). This index is then combined with the traditional measures of financial inclusion in the literature and aggregated into an overall index of financial inlusion. There are two key findings: first, the adoption of fintech has been a key driver of financial inclusion. Second, there is wide variation across countries and regions, with the greatest progress recorded in Africa and Asia and the Pacific regions. This index should offer a useful analytical tool for researchers and policy makers.
Keywords:
Fintech; digital financial services; financial inclusion; financial services industry; adoption of technology; capital markets department; services play; account ownership; Mobile banking; Caribbean; Asia and Pacific; Global; Africa
Cover IMF Working Papers
Beyond the COVID-19 Crisis: A Framework for Sustainable Government-To-Person Mobile Money Transfers
Delphine Prady
,
Hervé Tourpe
,
Sonja Davidovic
, and
Soheib Nunhuck
During the 2020 pandemic, the majority of countries have provided income support to households at an unprecedented speed and scale. Social distancing measures and the large penetration of mobile phones in emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs) have encouraged government-to-person (G2P) transfers through mobile platforms. This paper presents a comprehensive framework for sustainable money solutions in support of social assistance. The framework consists of eight building blocks that may help policymakers i) take stock and assess emergency fixes taken to scale up mobile money in a crisis context and ii) develop sustainable long-term solutions for mobile G2P transfers.
Keywords:
WP; government; Novissi G2P; country; firm; government assistance program; money; G2P; mobile money; bank account; electronic money; cash transfer; low income; financial service; central bank; Mobile banking; Currencies; Fiscal accounting and reporting; Sub-Saharan Africa; South Asia; Africa; East Asia; Asia and Pacific; Philippines government; CICO network; State transfer; government ecosystem; government assistance; government cash transfer; total cost of ownership; COVID-19
Cover IMF Working Papers
Bridging the Mobile Digital Divide in Sub-Saharan Africa: Costing under Demographic Change and Urbanization
Mr. Emre Alper
and
Michal Miktus
Digital connectivity, including through the modern cellular network technologies, is expected to play a key role for the Future of Work in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). We estimate the cost of introducing a full-scale 4G network by 2025 in SSA and an operable 5G network by 2040. We adapt the costing model of Lombardo (2019) by accounting for the significant demographic transformation and rapid urbanization in SSA. We use the WorldPop and GADM databases and the UN’s medium-variant population projections to project the population densities at the highest level of administrative division for each SSA country in 2025 and 2040. For full 4G connectivity, the required capital and operational costs stands approximately at US$14 billion by 2025 and for 5G connectivity, costs amount to US$57 billion in 2040, conditional on having the 4G in place by 2025. These costs roughly translate to 8.4 percent of annual subscriber income, on a median basis, by 2025 for 4G and 4.9 percent of subscriber income by 2040 for 5G. Having the infrastructure in place is not sufficient to bridge the mobile Digital Divide. In addition, policies are needed to address affordability and knowledge gaps.
Keywords:
WP; internet access; Digitalization; 5G cellular network; Demographics; Urbanization; SSA economy; SSA population; SSA GDP; technology adoption; aggregate cost estimate; network cost; Infrastructure; Capital spending; Public expenditure review; Global; Africa
Cover Departmental Papers
The Future of Work in Sub-Saharan Africa
Aidar Abdychev
,
Cristian Alonso
,
Mr. Emre Alper
,
Mr. Dominique Desruelle
,
Siddharth Kothari
,
Yun Liu
,
Mathilde Perinet
,
Sidra Rehman
,
Mr. Axel Schimmelpfennig
, and
Preya Sharma
Far-reaching changes in technology, climate, and global economic integration are transforming the world of work in ways that we do not yet fully understand. Will the swift technological advances of the Fourth Industrial Revolution raise the standards of living for everyone? Or will robots massively displace workers leading to a jobless future where only a few benefit from the fruits of innovation? Will mitigation efforts be able to cushion the adverse effects of climate change, including food shortages and mass migration, which would place extra pressure on urban labor markets? Will countries continue to integrate commercially and financially, fostering growth and employment? Or will trade wars become a norm in a world increasingly fragmented and inward-looking? In sub-Saharan Africa, these uncertainties meet a dramatic increase in population and a rapid expansion in the labor force, which is becoming increasingly urban.
Keywords:
DPPP; DP; Sub-Saharan Africa; country; work; worker; sub-Saharan Africa's export; poverty trap; employment in sub-Saharan Africa; sub-Saharan Africa's integration; sub-Saharan Africa's population; investment plan; sub-Saharan Africa's convergence; land market; country investment plan; government policy; urbanization in sub-Saharan Africa; integration in sub-Saharan Africa; Digital economy; Climate change; Global; Africa; East Africa
Cover IMF Working Papers
Still Attached? Are Social Safety Nets Working? Labor Force Participation in European Regions
Benjamin Hilgenstock
and
Zsoka Koczan
The paper examines the evolution and drivers of labor force participation in European regions, focusing on the effects of trade and technology. As in the United States, rural regions within European countries saw more pronounced declines (or smaller increases) in participation than urban regions. Unlike in the United States, however, trade and technology, captured here using novel measures of initial exposures to routinization and offshoring, did not result in detachment from the workforce in European regions. Instead, regions with high initial exposures to routinization and offshoring experienced so-far larger increases in participation, likely driven by an added second worker effect.
Keywords:
WP; labor force; Labor force participation; exposure to routinization; exposure to offshoring; technology; automation; dependency ratio; cyclical condition; offshoring due; employment-reducing effect; supply chain integration; inactivity rate area; offshoring distribution; effects of automation; Employment; Europe; Global