Effects of information communication technology on urban and rural service sectors: An empirical analysis of Japanese economic geography

Abstract

The present paper investigates the impacts of information communication technology (ICT) on economic geography by focusing on the Japanese service sectors. The authors empirically assess the effects of ICT on the urban and rural service sectors using Japanese economic data. There are two main findings. The first indicates that the service sectors in urban areas agglomerated from 2000 to 2006. The second is that the ICT environment might affect the location of the service sectors; an especially dense ICT service could accelerate agglomeration in urban areas. However, the effects of the ICT-related environment on the location of the service sectors are different in urban and rural areas. A dense ICT service environment might disperse service sectors in a rural area. © 2008 International Federation for Information Processing.