The Upside of Digital for the Middle East and North Africa : : How Digital Technology Adoption Can Accelerate Growth and Create Jobs.

• Author: Cusolito, Ana Paula.
• TeilnehmendeR: Gévaudan, Clément.; Lederman, Daniel.; Wood, Christina.
• Place / Publishing House: Washington, D. C. : : World Bank Publications,, 2021.; ©2021.
• Year of Publication: 2021
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (99 pages)

Table of Contents

Front Cover -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- About the Authors -- Executive Summary -- Abbreviations -- 1 Introduction -- References -- 2 The Digital Paradox in the Middle East and North Africa and the Upside of Digital Technologies -- Notes -- References -- 3 Framework for Understanding the Upside of the Digital Economy -- References -- 4 How Digital Technologies Help to Overcome Market Frictions -- Overcoming Frictions due to Information Asymmetries on Ride-Hailing Platforms -- Overcoming Transport Frictions: IT Sector and Mobility Barriers in West Bank -- Tourism Demand: Overcoming Frictions Associated with Geography and Language Barriers -- Notes -- References -- 5 The Upside of Digital: Empirical Framework and Results -- Lower-Bound Estimates of the Upside of the Digital Economy -- Gains in GDP per Capita -- Gains in Revenue Productivity and Employment in Manufacturing -- Gains in Tourism and Hospitality Industry Jobs -- Reductions in Unemployment and Increases in Female Labor Force Participation -- Summary of the Upside Impact of Digital Technologies -- Notes -- References -- 6 Three Foundational Pillars of the Digital Economy -- Digital Infrastructure -- Digital Payments -- Regulations for E-commerce -- Notes -- References -- 7 Addressing Challenges and Mitigating Risks -- Liberalization and Competition as Drivers of Mobile Digital Data Technology Adoption -- Competition in the Digital Services Market -- Risk Associated with Digital Social Media -- Data Governance -- Data Privacy in Managing the COVID-19 Pandemic -- Notes -- References -- 8 Summary and Conclusions -- Appendix A: Modeling the Relationship between Digital Payments, Bank Regulation, and Banking System Development -- Appendix B: Benchmark Regressions: Graphs and Statistics -- Appendix C: Description of New Mobile Data Technology Adoption Rankings -- Boxes.

Box 5.1 Empirical Framework for Estimating the Upside of Digital Technologies -- Box 7.1 Four Main Data Governance Paradigms -- Figures -- Figure 2.1 Penetration of Facebook Accounts and Use of Digital Payments, by Region -- Figure 2.2 Correlation between Transparency, Trust, and Use of Digital Payments Worldwide -- Figure 3.1 Framework for Understanding the Interactions between the Development of Digital Infrastructure, Use of Digital Tools, and Societal Trust in Government -- Figure 4.1 Share of Drivers Working Each Week in the Arab Republic of Egypt, by Driver Quality, 2018 -- Figure 4.2 Volume of Orders for Courier or Delivery Services in Jakarta, Indonesia, by Gender of the Driver, 2020 -- Figure 4.3 Change in Demand for Tourism Services, by Determinant -- Figure 5.1 Simulated Schedules for Diffusion of Digital Technology, 2017-50: Linear, Concave, and Logit Functions -- Figure 5.2 The Upside of Digital: Cumulative Gains in GDP per Capita in the Middle East and North Africa and in Sub-Saharan Africa, 2017-45 -- Figure 5.3 Digital Adoption and Export Complementarities: The Issue of Targeting -- Figure 5.4 Cumulative Gains in Revenue Productivity in Formal Manufacturing Enterprises in the Middle East and North Africa and in Sub-Saharan Africa, with Perfect Targeting and with No Targeting -- Figure 5.5 Employment Gains from Website Adoption in the Middle East and North Africa and in ­Sub-Saharan Africa, with Perfect Targeting and with No Targeting -- Figure 5.6 Estimated Gains in Tourist Arrivals due to the Adoption of B2C Tools in the Middle East and North Africa and in Sub-Saharan Africa, 2017-47 -- Figure 5.7 Estimated Gains in Tourism-Related Employment due to B2C Digital Technology Adoption in the Middle East and North Africa and in Sub-Saharan Africa, 2017-47.

Figure 5.8 Decline in Unemployment due to the Diffusion of Digital Payments in the Middle East and North Africa and in Sub-Saharan Africa, 2017-33 -- Figure 5.9 Correlation between Digital Payments and Female Labor Force Participation, 2017 -- Figure 5.10 Potential Increase in Female Labor Force Participation Rates from the Diffusion of Digital Payments in the Middle East and North Africa and in Sub-Saharan Africa, 2017-49 -- Figure 6.1 Benchmarking the Regulatory Framework for E-commerce, by Country Income Level -- Figure 7.1 Mobile Technology Adoption Rankings in the Middle East and North Africa and in Sub-Saharan Africa, 1981-2019 -- Figure 7.2 ICT Regulatory Authority Independence Index in the Middle East and North Africa and in Sub-Saharan Africa and by Country Income Group, 2017 -- Figure 7.3 Share of Liberalized Countries in the Middle East and North Africa and in Sub-Saharan Africa, 2000-18 -- Figure 7.4 Share of Foreign Participation in the Middle East and North Africa and in Sub-Saharan Africa, 2000-18 -- Figure B.1 Coverage of Information and Communication Technology Infrastructure in the Middle East and North Africa and Rest of the World, by GDP per Capita, 2019 -- Figure B.2 Facebook and Internet Use in the Middle East and North Africa and Rest of the World, by GDP per Capita -- Figure B.3 Digital Payments and Online Purchases in the Middle East and North Africa and Rest of the World, by GDP per Capita -- Figure B.4 Use of Financial Accounts in the Middle East and North Africa and Rest of the World, by GDP per Capita, 2017 -- Figure B.5 Download Speeds in the Middle East and North Africa and Rest of the World, by GDP per Capita, 2019 -- Figure B.6 User Prices of Data in the Middle East and North Africa and Rest of the World, by GDP per Capita, 2019.

Figure C.1 Mobile Technology Adoption Rankings in the Middle East and North Africa and in Sub-Saharan Africa, 1981-2019 -- Figure C.2 ICT Regulatory Authority Independence Index in the Middle East and North Africa and in Sub-Saharan Africa and by Country Income Group, 2017 -- Figure C.3 Share of Liberalized Countries in the Middle East and North Africa and in Sub-Saharan Africa, 2000-18 -- Figure C.4 Share of Foreign Participation in the Middle East and North Africa and in Sub-Saharan Africa, 2000-18 -- Tables -- Table 4.1 Change in Industry Shares of GDP in the Presence of Mobility Restrictions in West Bank, 1995-2017 -- Table 4.2 Simulated Change in GDP in the Presence of Mobility Restrictions -- Table 7.1 Technology Adoption, Liberalization, and Regulatory Independence -- Table 7.2 Data Stewardship in a Data Governance Framework -- Table 7.3 Regulation on Data Privacy in the Middle East and North Africa -- Table A.1 Relationships between Banking Restrictions, Financial Development, and Digital Payments -- Table A.2 Description of Variables -- Table B.1 ICT Infrastructure Coverage -- Table B.2 ICT Adoption-Digital Finance -- Table B.3 ICT Adoption-Enterprises and E-commerce -- Table B.4 ICT Enablers-E-Government Development Index Subindexes -- Table B.5 ICT Enablers-Quality of Institutions.