Relationship between Information and Communication Technologies and Sustainable Development: Fresh Evidence from Group of Seven (G-7) Countries

Abstract

There is ongoing discussion about the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) to promote sustainable development. While one side fiercely advocates using ICT technologies to drive and carry out sustainable development, others passionately struggle to highlight their many drawbacks. The present study adds to ongoing discussion by estimating the effect of ICT on sustainable development in G-7 economies over 1995-2020 period, which is an unreached area in the literature. The study also holds its novelty by considering Adjusted Net Savings (ANS) for measurement of sustainable development. As cross sectional dependence (CSD) and slope heterogeneity are present in data, second-generation panel estimation technique Cross sectional Augmented Distributed Lag Model (CS-ARDL) is used for the long run and the short run estimation. The findings assert that ICT technologies have positive effect on sustainable development in G-7 countries. In addition, the study also finds the positive contribution of renewable energy and negative contribution on non-renewable energy in sustainable development of the selected countries. The study recommends the governments to adopt effective policies to implement and improve infrastructure quality in terms of digital technologies to achieve sustainable development in selected economies.