Reports of Study Groups, etc. No.03

The Influence of IT on Japan's Economy and Society: Questionnaire Results


January, 2002
Kazuhiro Suda
(Executive Research Fellow, Economic and Social Research Institute, Cabinet Office)
Takuo Imagawa
(Associate Professor of Economics, Osaka School of International Public Policy, Osaka University;
Visiting Fellow, Economic and Social Research Institute, Cabinet Office)
Shoichi Miyahara
(Associate Professor, Faculty of Economics, Aoyama Gakuin University;
Visiting Fellow, Economic and Social Research Institute, Cabinet Office)
Ichiro Ibusuki
(Economic and Social Research Institute, Cabinet Office)
The full text is written in Japanese.     
(Abstract)

    Information technologies (IT) and the widespread use of the Internet continue to bring significant benefits to a broad range of businesses and households. Given the rich diversity and massive impact of web technologies on the economy, it is a hard task to address IT's detailed influence on Japan's economy and society. The purpose of this questionnaire is to determine how economists think about the issue.

    An Outline of This Investigation
  1. IT increases productivity, but it takes a long time.
     
  2. IT increases labor demand, but its overall influence depends on specific preconditions and market environments.
     
  3. If IT is to increase productivity, then deregulation, education, intellectual property rights, and liquidity in the labor market become especially important.
     
  4. IT results in greater concentrations of people in cities.