Title: Determinants of digital access: a global empirical analysis

Authors: N.R. Vasudeva Murthy, Ravi Nath

Addresses: Department of Economics and Finance, College of Business Administration, Creighton University, 2500 California Plaza, Omaha, Nebraska 68178, USA. ' Department of Information Systems and Technology, College of Business Administration, Creighton University, 2500 California Plaza, Omaha, Nebraska 68178, USA

Abstract: The impact of economic freedom and income inequality on Digital Access Index (DAI) is examined using data from 118 countries. Two variables |openness of the economy| and the |extent of domestic credit to private sector| are used as controlled variables. Regression analysis shows that economic freedom, openness of the economy and the extent of domestic credit to the private sector have a positive impact on DAI. Furthermore, greater income inequality has a significant negative relationship with DAI. However, when countries are divided into high income, middle income and low income groups, the results are different. For low income countries, openness of the economy and the extent of domestic credit to the private sector are the only variables that are significantly positively related to DAI. In high income and middle income countries, all variables are significant with the exception of |openness of the economy|. The paper concludes with a discussion of the policy implications of the results for IT strategists, policymakers and international development agencies.

Keywords: information technology; communications technology; ICT; DAI; digital access index; economic freedom; income inequality; regression analysis; domestic credit; international development agencies; open economy; private sector; policy making.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSS.2009.027218

International Journal of Services and Standards, 2009 Vol.5 No.2, pp.95 - 114

Published online: 17 Jul 2009 *

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