In 1987, Robert M. Solow hinted at the computer age and productivity statistics puzzle. While this puzzle persisted for many years, a growing literature has picked it up to examine the effect of ICTs on technical efficiency. However, this literature has focused mainly on quantity-based ICTs measures, which have come under severe criticism in recent times. We advance this literature in this paper by shifting the focus of analysis to quality-based ICTs measures; in this case, Internet quality. We also extend the literature by examining how the envisaged relationship between ICTs quality and technical efficiency is conditioned by a country's unique attributes. Our results show a significantly positive effect of ICTs quality on technical efficiency. We also find that the technical efficiency gains associated with ICTs quality are higher in skill-abundant countries, countries that engage more intensively in cross-border trade, have stronger contracting institutions, and are endowed with well-functioning and well-developed financial markets that ensure greater efficiency of capital allocation. We find a network effect in the nexus between ICTs quality and technical efficiency. That is, the marginal effect of ICTs quality on technical efficiency increases as the number of Internet users expands. We discuss the policy implications of our findings.@en

The recent boom of the services sector, especially in developing countries, coincides with the rise of digital technologies. While the former might be attributed to the latter, empirical analysis of this relationship is still limited. This paper fills this gap by examining the effect of digital infrastructure on services sector employment. Employing a panel data comprising 45 Sub-Saharan Africa countries over the period 1996–2017, we find that digital infrastructure contributes positively to services sector employment. However, further analyses reveal that the positive effect of digital infrastructure on services sector employment depends on education, institutional quality, and macroeconomic conditions as captured by the inflation rate. In particular, we find that the positive effect of digital infrastructure on services sector employment increases as institutional quality becomes better, while poor macroeconomic conditions decrease the effect of digital infrastructure on employment in services. We also find evidence suggesting that the effect of digital infrastructure on employment in the services sector tends to benefit countries at low levels of education.@en