TY  - JOUR
AU  - Caselli,Francesco
AU  - II,Wilbur John Coleman
TI  - Cross-Country Technology Diffusion: The Case of Computers
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 8130
PY  - 2001
Y2  - February 2001
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w8130
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w8130.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Francesco Caselli
Department of Economics
London School of Economics
Houghton Street
London WC2A 2AE
UNITED KINGDOM
Tel: (44) (0) 2079557498
E-Mail: f.caselli@lse.ac.uk
M2  - featured in NBER digest on 2001-07-01
AB  - We use data on imports of computer equipment for a large sample of countries between 1 970 and 1990 to investigate the determinants of computer-technology adoption. We find strong evidence that computer adoption is associated with higher levels of human capital and with manufacturing trade openness vis-a-vis the OECD. We also find evidence that computer adoption is enhanced by high investment rates, good property rights protection, and a small share of agriculture in GDP. Finally, there is some evidence that adoption is reduced by a large share of government in GDP, and increased by a large share of manufacturing. After controlling for the above-mentioned variables, we do not find an independent role for the English- (or European-) language skills of the population.
ER  -