Governments justify support of Internet diffusion on two grounds: (1) to overcome a persistent digital divide in broadband availability and (2) to facilitate online activities that are socially or economically desirable. This paper assesses both these claims. Using individual-level data from...

Around the globe countries are attempting to forge ahead with the expansion and upgrading of advanced communications networks. In most cases they are setting very ambitious goals with regard to technology and coverage. However, the specific cost structure for broadband projects results in the...

Contrary to the negative public perception, third-generation (3G) broadband mobile telecommunication, aka UMTS, has become reality. UMTS networks have been rolled out above all in Central Europe. The take-up of UMTS differs sharply from one country to the next, though. The large differences are...

The concepts of absorptive capacity and innovative capability have been introduced to describe abilities of a country to imitate and, accordingly, to create more advanced technologies. In this paper we suggest new indicators of these two abilities. To calculate them, we develop an endogenous...

In Bulgaria, during the transition to market-oriented economy, many analyzes are based on the widely held view that one of the positive legacies of the economies in transition (particularly that of Bulgaria) is the high level of human capital. The high degree of development of education and...

The determinants of human capital have been studied sparsely in the literature. Although there is a huge literature on the determinants of schooling linked with the quality of schooling, there are not many contributions that explore the deep determinants of investment in, quantity and quality of...

We study the cultural process through which a society inculcates an entrepreneurial spirit. People work for a guaranteed wage or operate a firm whose return depends on business expertise. The latter is culturally acquired, within the family or outside, and people may choose an occupation...

In recent years, the European telecommunications market has witnessed major developments, with rapid expansion in access to telecommunications networks and a surge in the number of available services and applications. While many factors have contributed to the transformation of the...

Is the United States in full retreat from internationally recognized regulatory best practice? Or is it instead headed toward some different destination – "dancing to the beat of a different drummer"? Where is this likely to lead?

This paper shows that unbundling an incumbent's infrastructure only results in a substantial improvement in broadband deployment for middle-income countries, but not for their high income counterparts. Our statistical analysis of approximately 100 countries showed that GDP per capita,...