L’impact d’Internet sur le commerce international

Abstract

The Internet was first introduced during the Cold War but started to be really accessible to the public during the nineties. Since then, the Internet has become a key part of the globalisation. Using panel data for 98 countries for the period 1996-2014, this thesis assesses the hypothesis that Internet (by reducing transaction costs) enhances trade. By adding time, exporter and importer fixed effects, we find that indeed the Internet tend to promote trade. Furthermore, we also find that more developed countries, country-pairs with higher Internet adoption and the more distant trading partners experience the biggest impact of the Internet on their bilateral trade flows.