Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/147296 
Year of Publication: 
2016
Series/Report no.: 
Darmstadt Discussion Papers in Economics No. 228
Publisher: 
Technische Universität Darmstadt, Department of Law and Economics, Darmstadt
Abstract: 
We investigate economic and institutional determinants of ICT infrastructure for a broad cross section ofmore than 100 countries. The ICT variable is constructed from a principal components analysis. The explanatory variables are selected by variants of the Lasso estimator from the machine learning literature.In addition to least squares, we also apply robust and semiparametric regression estimators. The results show that the regressions are able to explain ICT infrastructure very well. Major determinants identified are real income per capita, the availability of electricity, the extent of urbanization and indicators for the quality of the institutional environment. We also find evidence of conditional convergence of the ICT infrastructure across countries.
Subjects: 
determinants of ICT infrastructure
global digital divide
variable selection
machine learning
robust and semiparametric regression
JEL: 
O11
O33
L96
C52
C14
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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