The effects of air transportation, energy, ICT and FDI on economic growth in the industry 4.0 era: Evidence from the United States

Festus Fatai Adedoyin; Festus Victor Bekun; Oana M Driha; Daniel Balsalobre-Lorente

doi:10.1016/j.techfore.2020.120297

The effects of air transportation, energy, ICT and FDI on economic growth in the industry 4.0 era: Evidence from the United States

Technol Forecast Soc Change. 2020 Nov:160:120297. doi: 10.1016/j.techfore.2020.120297. Epub 2020 Sep 11.

Authors

Festus Fatai Adedoyin¹, Festus Victor Bekun^{2

3}, Oana M Driha⁴, Daniel Balsalobre-Lorente⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Accounting, Finance and Economics, Bournemouth University, UK.
² Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Istanbul Gelisim University, Istanbul, Turkey.
³ Department of Accounting, Analysis and Audit, School of Economics and Management, South Ural State University, 76 Lenin Ave., Chelyabinsk 454080, Russia.
⁴ Department of Applied Economics, International Economy Institute, Institute of Tourism Research, University of Alicante, Spain.
⁵ Department of Political Economy and Public Finance, Economics and Business Statistics and Economic Policy, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain.

Abstract

This study analyses the causal and long-run linkage between air transport and economic growth. It was conducted to validate the tourism-led growth hypothesis for the United States (US) during the period 1981-2017 and includes Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) alongside coal rents in the tourism-led growth hypothesis. This study presents a new direction for future studies by considering the relevance of the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0), particularly in the US. To achieve the stated claim, this study considers as additional explanatory variables how ICTs moderate the impact of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) on GDP. The empirical result confirms a connection between the Industry 4.0 era and the role of ICTs, which promotes substantial changes in the way of life and productivity. This has led to a vast technological advancement, which is in line with but at a faster pace than the technological advancement of previous revolutions. From empirical results, the study provides relevant policy recommendations related to the role of natural resources, new technologies and tourism on US GDP, while it also provides evidence of the positive effect of ICTs over FDI under the Industry 4.0 era.

Keywords: Air transport; Coal rents; Foreign direct investment; ICTs; Industry 4.0; Tourism led growth hypothesis.