Does IT Matter (Now)? A Global Panel Data Analysis of 7 Regions from 2018-2020 on Digitalization and its Impact on Economic Growth

Abstract: There has been a long-running debate in Information Technology (IT) and economics literature about the contrary arguments of IT concerning digitalization and the economic growth of nations. While many empirical studies have shown a significant value of IT, others revealed a detrimental impact. Given the ambiguous results and anecdotal commentary on the increase in digitalization attributed to the COVID19 global pandemic, this paper aims to explore the economic growth-digitalization nexus of 59 countries in 7 regions by employing correlation and regression analyses over the period 2018-2020. The findings indicate a positive relationship between economic growth and digitalization for both HIGH and LOW digitalized country categorization and regional assessment. Consistent with regional results, except for Northern Africa and Western Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa regions, the remaining regions show a positive correlation and regression results. The findings of this study can be helpful in future prospective national IT and economic development policies.