La diffusion des TIC ameliore‐t‐elle qualitativement les institutions politiques en Afrique?

Abstract This paper empirically analyses the impact of the diffusion of information and communication technology (ICT) on the quality of institutions simultaneously captured by democracy and corruption in a few African countries. To do so, we specify a panel Tobit model in which democracy is measured by the Institutional Quality Index proposed by the ICRG, while corruption is approximated by the Corruption Control Index. Our model is estimated on a sample of 40 African countries over the period 1995–2018. Overall, the main results show that ICT diffusion significantly improves the quality of democracy and reduces the propensity to corruption in the sample countries. We suggest strengthening the rule of law to increase the quality of democracy, a source of positive externalities on corruption.