The Advancement in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and Economic Development: A Panel Analysis

This study analyses the impact of advancement in information and communication technologies (ICT) on economic development over the period of 2000 to 2017 in the case of 87 developed and developing countries. The developed and developing countries are selected following the ranking of International Monetary Fund's World Economic Outlook Database, October 2018. This article uses three types of analysis: the first is based on the whole sample, and for comparative analysis developed and developing countries’ analysis are done separately. The results of panel least squares reveal that advancement in information and communication technologies has an insignificant relationship with economic development, whereas the advancement in information and communication technologies is playing a positive and significant role in the economic development of developing countries. This shows that developed countries are getting more benefits from advancement in information and communication technologies in comparison with developing countries in the process of economic development. The developed countries have a more stable macroeconomic environment in comparison with developing countries, so macroeconomic stability is playing more significant role in the case of developed countries. If developing countries want to achieve higher economic development, they must increase trade and physical capital with stable macroeconomic environment. Moreover, developing countries should adopt advancement in information and communication technologies (ICT) to compete with developed countries in the process of economic development.