Digital Services Exports and Networks

This picture below shows for a large set of countries the relationship between their ability to capitalize on the digital economy and their exports in digital services. 

More precisely, on the horizontal axis an index measuring the so-called network readiness of countries is plotted. This variable comes from the World Economic Forum. It measures the extent to which an economy is prepared to apply the benefits of information and communications technologies (ICTs) in order to promote economic growth and well-being. On the vertical axis on the other hand the amount of digital services exports is plotted for each country.  

This variable comes from the World Bank's Trade in Services Database. Together these two variables illustrate that countries which have a stronger ranking on the network readiness index also show a greater level of digital services exports as their is a positive relationship. 

In particular, countries such as Ireland, Luxembourg and the United Kingdom are relatively strong in exporting digital services compared to what one can expect based on their levels of network readiness. These countries are therefore placed above the orange line.