We study the adoption, diffusion, and impacts of the Universal Product Code (UPC) between 1975 and 1992, during the initial years of the barcode system. We find evidence of network effects in the diffusion process. Matched-sample difference-in-difference estimates show that firm size and...

This paper analyses the potential mismatch between the conditions required for a manufacturing firm to become exporter and the pattern of technology adoption within the industry. The "export threshold", which is estimated using the ROC methodology, is the minimum combination of productivity and...

Austria’s transition to a digital economy and society is slower than in other high-income small open European economies. The rate and pace of utilisation of eight main ICT applications shows that Austrian firms follow peer country counterparts with a gap, which has widened in most areas in...

This paper uses a unique new data set on nearly a thousand manufacturing firms in Brazil and India to investigate the determinants of ICT adoption and its impact on performance in both countries. The descriptive evidence shows that Brazilian firms on average use ICT more intensively than their...

This paper provides an analysis on the diffusion of the last generation digital technologies (Industry 4.0) in the Veneto region, one of the main manufacturing territory in Italy. Our attention focuses on factors that enable firms to adopt these technologies, with attention to three main...

While the worldwide spread of smartphones continues, developing countries have become important markets for these devices. Smartphones’ independence of landline networks qualifies them for communication and Internet access in rural areas of developing countries. Drawing upon rural Southeast...

We develop a new concept of rural technology diffusion influenced by labor mobility and business relations. The technology gain effect of labor mobility increases technology diffusiveness, whereas the technology drain effect decreases it. The concept is applied to survey data from the Mekong...

The purpose of this paper is to illuminate the geographical diffusion of photovoltaic installations in Germany quantitatively and to test if preexisting photovoltaic systems stimulate further installations nearby; thus we investigate to which extent knowledge flows depend on geographic...

This paper investigates the geographic extent of foreign direct investment (FDI) technology spillovers and diffusion in the People's Republic of China (PRC). We employ spatial dynamic panel econometric techniques to detect total factor productivity (TFP) innovation clusters, uncover the spatial...