Information technology and Australia's productivity surge
Staff research paper
This paper by Dean Parham, Paul Roberts and Haishun Sun was released on 11 October 2001. It examines the role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in Australia's productivity growth and to compares the strength of that role with observations of the US. A related objective is to form a view on whether the US experience suggests that a second ICT-related wave of productivity acceleration lies ahead for Australia (or is already in evidence) and whether the production or use of ICTs is essential to catch that wave.
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Information Technology and Australia's Productivity Surge (PDF 680.1 KB)The rapid uptake of information and communication technologies (ICTs) contributed to Australia's very strong productivity performance in the 1990s. Indeed, the contributions of ICTs to labour productivity growth in the 1990s was at least as strong in Australia as it was in the US.
These are two of the key findings from the latest Productivity Commission staff research paper, Information Technology and Australia's Productivity Surge.
The paper shows that Australia has benefited from the use of ICTs. Australia has been very quick on the uptake of ICTs by international standards. Whilst ICT production added up to 0.3 of a percentage point to US productivity growth, Australia generated a productivity improvement of 1.1 percentage points from ICT use and other factors. Policy reforms have played a role in encouraging the faster uptake of ICTs and facilitating business restructuring to tap the productivity gains that using ICTs can bring.
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