Let's Switch to the Cloud: Cloud Adoption and Its Effect on IT Investment and Productivity

Arbeitspapier

The advent of cloud computing promises to improve the way firms utilize IT solutions. Firms are expected to replace large and inflexible fixed-cost investments in IT with more targeted variable spending in cloud solutions. In addition, cloud usage is expected to increase the productivity of firms, as it allows them to quickly customize the IT they require to their specific needs. We assess these assertions using data on a representative sample of firms provided by the German statistical offices for the years 2014 and 2016, which allows to observe who are the cloud users. Our analysis explicitly accounts for the self-selection into cloud adoption within an endogenous treatment regression framework. Broadband availability at the municipality level is used as an exogenous shifter for cloud usage. We show that, while cloud adoption does not impact IT investment in any sectors, it does significantly improve labor productivity for firms in manufacturing and in information and communication services.

Angaben zum Objekt

• Sprache: Englisch

Verweise und Beziehungen

• Erschienen in: Series: CESifo Working Paper ; No. 9944

Klassifikation und Themen

• Klassifikation: Wirtschaft ; Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity ; Intertemporal Firm Choice: Investment, Capacity, and Financing ; Industry Studies: Manufacturing: General ; Industry Studies: Services: General ; Industrialization; Manufacturing and Service Industries; Choice of Technology ; Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
• Thema: cloud computing ; investment ; productivity ; substitution ; firm performance

Beteiligte, Orts- und Zeitangaben

• Ereignis: Geistige Schöpfung
• (wer): Duso, Tomaso ; Schiersch, Alexander
• Ereignis: Veröffentlichung
• (wer): Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo)
• (wo): Munich
• (wann): 2022

Weitere Informationen

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/265979
• Letzte Aktualisierung: 20.09.2024, 08:24 MESZ