Impact of the digital divide on economic growth in mena countries evidence from panel ARDL models 2000-2018

Abstract EN

The study of the relationship between ICT and economic growth is important as it provides crucial information for policy decisions.

In this study, we seek to determine whether there is a digital divide between 15 MENA countries and to investigate its impact in the short and long-run on economic growth using Panel ARDL models.

The panel data take the period of 2000-2018.

The PMG and DFE estimations are applied in this analysis, the Hausman Test is conducted to decide between them; as result, PMG estimator is more efficient.

We found that there exists a big digital divide among MENA countries.

Furthermore, The PMG estimator results indicate the existence of a strong relationship between economic growth and ICT indicators in MENA countries, in the long-run, while the relationship in the short-run is insignificant.