Worried about being left behind in the Digital Age, a few hundred municipalities have chosen to construct and operate high-speed Internet networks. Above all else, it is the impacts on the labor market—i.e., the promise of “more jobs”—that form the policy justification for these...

This paper sets out the OECD’s assessment of the information technology (IT) systems for social services used by the public administration in Spain. It shows that large disparities exist between and within regions in the use of IT tools. The lack of unified systems and the different ways to...

Understanding and using ICT is critical for increasing effectiveness of the public sector, improving access to public services, enhancing transparency and engage- ment of various stakeholders in public decision-making processes. At the same time, utilization of new emerging technologies such as...

Este documento presenta la evaluación de la OCDE de los sistemas de tecnología de la información (TI) para servicios sociales utilizados por la administración pública en España. Muestra que existen grandes disparidades entre las regiones y dentro de ellas en el uso de las herramientas...

Despite various anti-corruption policies in place, the public service provision in most developing countries remains mired in corruption. In this chapter, we argue that a successful fight against corruption requires a thorough understanding of the processes involved in the provision of public...

The movement of personal data across national borders is fundamental to the Internet economy. Yet the laws that govern such data flows remain national or, at best, regional. This mismatch weakens privacy protection, increases costs and uncertainty for business, creates tension and political...

Information and communication technologies (ICT) are shaping our everyday lives both as consumers as well as in the work place. But it is of a rather recent date that ICT also show a more than trivial impact on the political sphere, which is characterized by collective decision-making. Assessing...

The “new economic geography” of the IT industry is shaped by two characteristic features of the industry, smaller size of the firms and zero transportation costs of its products that provide its ability of being a ‘footloose’ industry. The IT industry could locate itself in a region on...

This dissertation consists of four essays in the economics of digital transformation and specifically considers the link between geography and digitalization in the know-ledge economy.