E-Policy: The Impact and Political Economy of the Digital Revolution

Abstract

This chapter addresses the issues relating to the development and impact of information and communication technologies and their implications for economic policy. The chapter reviews the growing presence of ICT production and use in advanced economies, despite the current economic environment and the collapse of the dot-com bubble. It addresses the impacts of ICTs on the economy in general, the measurement issues involved, and on product and factor markets in particular. This is followed by a discussion of the implications of ICTs on the design and effectiveness of fiscal and monetary policy, and especially on the different aspects of structural policy. The chapter concludes that by virtue of their ubiquitous nature and economy-wide diffusion, ICTs profoundly affect economic decision-making; they change the effectiveness of different economic policy tools, and force a redesign of approaches in a number of policy areas.