ICT Capital and Services Complementarities. The Italian Evidence

This paper investigates whether ICTs hardware and services play a complementary role inboosting economic growth. The main argument is that investments in ICTs fixed capital are anecessary but not sufficient condition leading to productivity gains, above all in late adoptercountries. Their effective implementation indeed requires on the one hand a changingeconomic structure characterized by a growing weight of service sectors, on the other handcomplementary investments in ICTs services, directed to ease the integration of the newtechnologies within firms’ boundaries....