Assessing the values of EC and IT separately and simultaneously and inputs substitution and complement: The CES-based stochastic frontier approaches

The objective of this research is to critically explore four interrelated issues at the country level by evaluating the values of e-commerce (EC) and information technology (IT) both separately and simultaneously; examining the possibilities of complementarity and substitutability phenomena; analyzing the impacts of substitution and complement relations among ordinary capital, ordinary labor, and IT capital on the business values of EC and IT; and revisiting the productivity paradox by using the stochastic frontier approaches, which incorporate the CES production functions. The empirical results imply that it is important to assess the values of EC and IT simultaneously rather than separately.