An extensive study by the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI)—Internet matters: The Net’s sweeping impact on growth, jobs, and prosperity—includes these findings:
- The Internet accounts for 3.4 percent of overall GDP in the 13 nations studied
- …our macroeconomic approach and our statistical approach show that in the mature countries we studied, the Internet accounted for 10 percent of GDP over the 15-year period from 1995 to 2009, and its influence is expanding. Over the last five years of that period, its contribution to GDP growth in these countries doubled, to 21 percent
- …Most of the economic value the Internet creates falls outside of the technology sector: companies in more traditional industries capture 75 percent of the benefits. The Internet is also a catalyst for generating jobs. Among 4,800 small and midsize enterprises surveyed, it created 2.6 of them for each lost to technology-related efficiencies
