Abstract
Africa is an emerging, frontier economy that is gradually becoming a gold miner of the fourth industrial revolution (industry 4.0) to achieve speedy economic growth and development. Through the transmission channel of technological drive that relies on the penetration of modern communication means (information and communication technology [I.C.T.]). It is on this basis that this study examines the performance of I.C.T., economic growth and development in Africa. In capturing I.C.T. performance; penetration of I.C.T. indicators – mobile telephone, fixed-line telephone and Internet access subscriptions are used as measurements and reduced to a single index through principal components analysis (P.C.A.). Economic growth and development is measured with the real gross domestic product and the human development index (H.D.I.), respectively. The data for this study were sourced from the international telecommunication union (I.T.U.) and world development indicators from the World Bank databases. The results show that mobile telecommunication is growing faster than other telecommunication indicators and I.C.T. penetration has positive impacts on economic growth and development in Africa. The study, therefore, recommends that simultaneous investments are required in the fixed-line and Internet access telecommunications in Africa in order to fully tap into the optimal impetus of I.C.T. penetration for economic growth and development in Africa.
Highlights
IntroductionFrontier economy for exploiting the fourth industrial revolution (industry 4.01) and enhancing speedy economic growth and development
Africa is an emerging, frontier economy for exploiting the fourth industrial revolution and enhancing speedy economic growth and development
In order to navigate around the flaws that may the attached to econometric techniques, this study employed stylised fact analysis using descriptive and trend analysis to depict the importance of I.C.T. penetration on economic growth and development in Africa
Summary
Frontier economy for exploiting the fourth industrial revolution (industry 4.01) and enhancing speedy economic growth and development. Impacts of I.C.T. on economic growth gains significant attention in the work of Mohammed and Sulong (2017) employed pooled mean group (P.M.G.) model and assert that I.C.T.s (fixed line, mobile phone and Internet penetration) are positive and significant to growth in most of the income categories, but that mobile phone is more robust. Mutual short-run and long-run equilibrium relationships exist between economic growth and I.C.T. infrastructure in Asian countries in which panel V.A.R. is employed to ascertain causality directions (Pradhan et al, 2015). In order to navigate around the flaws that may the attached to econometric techniques, this study employed stylised fact analysis using descriptive and trend analysis to depict the importance of I.C.T. penetration on economic growth and development in Africa
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have