NEW YORK — Money spent on computing technology by U.S. companies delivers gains in worker productivity that are three to five times those of other investments, according to a study published Tuesday. But the study also concluded that the information technology industry itself was unlikely to be a big source of new jobs.
The report is a wide-ranging look at the role that information technology plays in the U.S. economy, based on an assessment of existing research and the authors' analysis. The study was done by a year-old research organization, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, whose work is supported by companies like IBM, Cisco Systems and eBay, as well as by the Communications Workers of America and foundation grants. It is available at
www.itif.org.
The study concludes that the economic significance of information technology is less in the technology itself than in the capacity of computer hardware, software and services to transform other sectors of the economy.
Policy, according to the study, should focus less on incentives to use certain technology products or help particular companies than on encouraging market forces to hasten the pace of technology- aided change in industries.
Robert Atkinson, the foundation president, said health care, electric utilities and transportation were sectors that could benefit from computing technology.
In health care, for example, the U.S. government has prodded industry to set standards for sharing information as a step toward building a national health information network. Medicare and industry groups are moving to require hospitals and clinics to report their performance in meeting safety standards and patient health goals. To meet those standards, health care providers must adopt modern computing tools.
"The policy issue is, how do you get digital transformation in these other sectors?" Atkinson said. "This is not about tax breaks for IBM or Cisco or other technology companies."
The report notes that employment in computing has recovered somewhat since the dot-com bubble burst in 2000, to account for 3.76 million jobs. Still, it says, the growth potential is limited.
The most provocative and controversial parts of the report, "Digital Prosperity: Understanding the Economic Benefits of the Information Technology Revolution," are its claim of major productivity gains from investments in computing technology and its policy focus on industry sectors.
The report cites studies to back its assertion of productivity benefits, but many economists are not convinced. "It could be that investments here pay off more than other investments, but the evidence is still not in, in my view," said Robert Litan, an economist and director of research and policy at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/13/technology/13iht-tech14.4898984.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print
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