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Although there may be considerable evidence that points out how new information technologies are able to bring about modifications in modern economies' operations, there is a need to identify better impacts on economic growth and productivity. While several micro-econometric studies exhibit a positive correlation between different measures of economic performance in industrial countries and IT investment, macroeconomic studies point out either a negative or non-existing correlation in terms of IT investment and the aggregate economy, and such can be applied not only in the United States but also to five other OECD countries. This chapter explores a cross-country analysis that is based mainly on an explicit economic growth model that adopts data from the International Data Corporation (IDC).

Especially in industrialized countries, information technology has manifested itself in several aspects of life. However, doubts such as the ‘productivity paradox’ remain since there have been disputes about the real worth and contributions of IT investments and other such dimensions of technological progress. For the US and other developed countries, studies have shown that there is a declining productivity growth in this sector. If indeed IT is the key to economic growth and innovation, developing countries will be at a loss if they do not adopt these developments immediately. This chapter emphasizes the need for both qualitative and quantitative data analyses for proceeding with a cross-country analysis of economic growth and development. Also, it looks into the various implications of this data in formulating international and national policies.

Research on the effects of patent protection on innovation and technology transfer in the cross-country pharmaceutical industry adds to our understanding of the underlying forces driving a country's innovation level. This chapter extends the research of Qian (2007) to evaluate the effects of patent reforms on inward foreign direct investment (FDI) establishments and imports in the pharmaceutical sectors. It also attempts to integrate all the findings on innovations, technology transfer, and international trade, and discusses potential policy implications. By thoroughly controlling the country covariates, through a combination of matched sampling techniques with fixed-effect panel regression models, the analyses arrive at robust results across the various model specifications. First, national pharmaceutical patent protection alone does not stimulate domestic innovation, as estimated by the US patent awards and domestic R&D. FDI establishments and pharmaceutical exports did not increase significantly either. Imports, however, did flourish. Second, national patent law implementation demonstrates conditional importance for innovation acceleration and technology transfer, conditional upon certain country variables. Third, terms of trade are likely to decline immediately upon the new implementation of IPR.

This chapter investigates similarities and differences across countries in children's usage of the internet and their encounters of risk. Countries are clustered according to levels and types of usage and risk to determine what is distinctive (or not) about a country, and national contexts are explored to show how contextual factors at country level shape children's patterns of online use, opportunities and risks. The objective is to explain patterns of similarities and, in particular, differences among countries, by examining the national level contextual factors, such as national socio-economic stratification, regulatory framework, technology infrastructure and education system, that explain how and why nations vary systematically.

In implementing the most efficient instruments in environmental policy, gaining electoral support is essential. One factor influencing this support is people’s trust in their governments. Quantitative analysis suggests that the lower the trust is that people have in their governments, the lower is their willingness to pay for environmental protection. Using survey data of 45,000 individuals in 32 countries, this study shows that political trust is indeed an influencing factor. In our model the predicted probability of accepting new environmental taxes is 17%, the probability to be indifferent is 21%, and the probability of not accepting environmental taxes is 62%. We show that if the average survey participant theoretically had Swiss trust levels, acceptance would increase from 17% to 23%. Considering that all other variables are held constant, the gain in acceptance of environmental taxes by an increase in trust in government is significant.