Spurring growth and closing gaps through digitalisation in a post-COVID world: Policies to LIFT all boats

Mauro Pisu, Christina von Rüden, Hyunjeong Hwang and Giuseppe Nicoletti

No 30, OECD Economic Policy Papers from OECD Publishing

Abstract: The full potential of digital technologies remains unrealised and their benefits unequally shared because of insufficient investment in enabling intangible assets and communication networks within and across countries. The COVID-19 shock poses new challenges and opportunities. Drawing on past and ongoing OECD work, the paper proposes a multipronged policy approach to durably accelerate the diffusion and uptake of digital technologies across all layers of society, and share their benefits more widely. The building blocks of the proposed LIFT approach include: Lifelong learning for all to ensure everybody has the opportunity to acquire and upgrade the skills needed to thrive in a digital world; Intangibles finance for the knowledge economy to allow more firms, especially small ones, to increase intangible investment and seize the opportunities offered by the digital transformation; Framework market conditions for the digital age to upgrade policies to the digital age, especially in the areas of taxation, competition law and enforcement, digital security, firms’ entry and exit, and e-government; Technology access via digital infrastructure to facilitate access to communication networks and accelerate the take up of digital technologies and their international diffusion.

Keywords: Compensation; Competition Policy; Education and Inequality; Firm Growth; Firm Performance; Innovation Policy; Skill Biased; SME; Technology Adoption; Technology and Competitiveness; Wages (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I24 J3 L25 L4 O32 O33 O38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021-11-26
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cse, nep-ict, nep-lma, nep-pay and nep-sbm
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