This paper uses a new set of country data for 14 countries, members of the OECD, and a nonparametric approach to provide new evidence on the impact of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on labour productivity growth between 1995 and 2005. For the first time, in the present paper a bootstrap approach for the decomposition of labour productivity change, proposed by Kumar and Russell (2002), is employed. This approach permits to conduct statistical inference on the parameters of interest, and to analyse the effects of ICT technologies on capital accumulation. The results confirm the role of ICT as a general purpose technology that needs organizational and business process changes to fully exploit its growth opportunities. The paper also finds out, by applying a non-parametric test, that ICT technologies positively contribute to the generation of convergence clubs in the evolution of labour productivity. Finally, the empirical evidence offers some basic guidance for future policy intervention in supporting ICT capital investments.
Over the past twenty years, important changes in the Italian health system have led to different approaches in organizing, delivering and financing health services throughout the regions of the country. This study aims to examine the impact these factors have had on efficiency. The methodology adopted is based on the developments in bootstrapping Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). In particular, employing a two-stage procedure, we analyzed the impact that political interventions have produced on healthcare efficiency. The data, which were at the local health unit level for the period 2004-2005, were aggregated to the provincial level in order to take into account patient mobility. The study reveals that the organizational model adopted by the Lombardia region allows for the best results in healthcare efficiency. Second, administrative decentralization from the regional governments to local health units is a source of inefficiency.Third, adjusting the cost of delivering care, by taking into consideration regional health characteristics, improves efficiency. Finally, future policy interventions should make careful valuations of the impacts of patient mobility on healthcare efficiency.
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