This paper deals with the contribution of information and communication technology (ICT) to economic
growth and to labour and multi-factor productivity. It uses a well-established growth accounting
framework to assess the role of ICTs as capital inputs and the contribution of these capital inputs to output
growth. The paper provides an international perspective by presenting results for the G7 countries. For this
purpose, data on ICT investment expenditure were compiled from several sources, to construct measures of
ICT capital stocks and capital services. Special care was taken to account for the methodological
differences in price deflators for computers as they exist across OECD countries. For all seven countries,
the report finds that ICT capital goods have been important contributors to economic growth, although the
role of ICT has been most accentuated in the United States. An important limitation of the study lies in the
timeliness of internationally comparable data. Calculations could only be carried out for the years up to
1996 for all G7 countries. The report points to some of the most recent studies for the United States and
briefly discusses their results.