tailieunhanh - Computer Usage and Demand for Paper/Paperboard Products

The concept of technological capabilities, conceived by ROSENBERG (1974), encompasses the knowledge and know-how of the development of new processes and products. Empirical stud- ies support the hypothesis that technological capabilities are decisive determinants of innova- tion cost. They are thus important factors for innovation decisions (COHEN, 1995) and rele- vant for both cleaner production and end-of-pipe technologies. JANZ et al. (2003) find evi- dence that private R&D activities are decisive internal push factors for innovation activities, especially for knowledge-intensive sectors. Financial resources and skilled employees (CZARNITZKI, 2002), R&D activities, especially activities dedicated to environmental issues, and the support of organizational structures,. | Preliminary Computer Usage and Demand for Paper Paperboard Products Lei Lei Haizheng Li School of Economics and Center for Paper Business and Industry Studies Georgia Institute of Technology 1 COMPUTER USAGE AND DEMAND FOR PAPER PAPERBOARD PRODUCTS ABSTRACT The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effect of computer usage on the demand for paper and paperboard products. A log-linear model is developed to analyze the effect of computer usage on the demand for four categories of paper newsprint printing writing paper packaging paper and household sanitary paper. The analysis is divided into two parts. The first part is US monthly analysis. We create computer number index as a measurement for computer usage. Monthly data from Jan 1992 to Jun 2005 are collected to estimate the effect for four categories of paper. The monthly estimation results support the hypothesis that the increasing usage of computer has a significantly negative effect on the demand for printing writing paper and a significantly positive effect on the demand for packaging paper. But it doesn t provide enough evidence for the effect on the demand for newsprint. The second part is the yearly analysis on 16 main countries which constitute the major demand for paper paperboard products and are countries with widespread usage of computer. Using the yearly data from 1961 to 2002 and applying fixone model we find that computer usage has a significantly positive effect on demand for packaging paper. The small difference in US monthly analysis and 16 countries yearly analysis may arise from the different measures in computer usage prices of paper paperboard products and income. Keywords Computer demand income fixone 2 1. Introduction The emergence and development of information and communication technology ICT is now playing a more and more important role in every aspect of world economy. Many studies have been made to analyze its effect on various industries. However little research has been done on the