DescriptionThis dataset supports the study “Digital Infrastructure and Short-Run Economic Growth: Panel Evidence from Emerging and Developing Economies.” It contains a panel dataset of 20 Sub-Saharan African countries covering the period 2005–2023 (N = 336 country-year observations).
The dataset includes variables used in the econometric analysis:
GDP growth (annual %)
Digital Infrastructure Index (composite of mobile, internet, broadband)
Foreign Direct Investment (% of GDP)
Inflation (CPI, annual %)
Education (average years of schooling / index)
Unemployment rate (%)
The Digital Infrastructure Index is constructed as an equal-weight composite of mobile subscriptions, internet penetration, and fixed broadband subscriptions, scaled by 100.
Data sources include:
World Bank World Development Indicators (WDI)
International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS)
The dataset is suitable for panel econometric analysis, including Fixed Effects and System-GMM estimation, and supports replication and extension of the study findings.