Abstract

Research opinion on informatization is divided between two opposite poles—that it promotes or inhibits the spillover of regional economies. These conflicting viewpoints are called “the paradoxical geographies of the digital economy”. Information-based investment and diffusion of informatization contribute to breaking the economic space constraints caused by distance, leading to interregional spillover effects, according to the results of the Durbin model of spatial lag applied to Japanese regional data. Clearly, the local direct effects and the perimeter region’s indirect effects of informatization are both positive. This proves the existence of network externality, which causes increasing returns to scale. Extensive diffusion of information technology plays a significant role in the process, in addition to rapid accumulation and infiltration of information resources, which strengthens the information-based investment spillover effect. In this empirical analysis, evidence seems to support the view that informatization promotes economic development in Japan.

Highlights

  • Research opinion on the relationship between informatization and economic growth is divided between two extreme positions, represented by “the digital divide” and “the world is flat” perspectives.The former refers to the ever-increasing inequalities in a nation, region, or class, or between individuals, due to the gap-boosting effect of the information-acquisitioning ability on the information-based economic development process

  • To address the flaws of the research discussed above, this article plans to analyze the following aspects: first, whether, from a regional spatial relationship perspective, the informatization effect on economic growth is based on the concentration or spreading effect; second, the direct and indirect effects of informatization on economic growth, with the interaction effect of economic growth and the informatized space simultaneously incorporated into the model

  • In the foregoing analysis, we explored the contribution of information communication capital stock (ICT) investment to economic growth under the hypothesis of constant returns to scale

Read more

Summary

Introduction

Research opinion on the relationship between informatization and economic growth is divided between two extreme positions, represented by “the digital divide” and “the world is flat” perspectives The former refers to the ever-increasing inequalities in a nation, region, or class, or between individuals, due to the gap-boosting effect of the information-acquisitioning ability on the information-based economic development process. To address the flaws of the research discussed above, this article plans to analyze the following aspects: first, whether, from a regional spatial relationship perspective, the informatization effect on economic growth is based on the concentration (digital divide) or spreading (world is flat) effect; second, the direct and indirect effects of informatization on economic growth, with the interaction effect of economic growth and the informatized space simultaneously incorporated into the model

Basic Model
Spatial Model Selection
Selection of Control Variables
Direct and Indirect Spillover Effect of the Independent Variable
Sample Selection
Sources of Data
The Construction of Spatial Weight Matrix
Contribution of Informatization Investment to Economic Growth
Spillover Effect and Network Effect of Informatization
Findings
Conclusions and Research Implications
Full Text
Published version (Free)

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call