Digital Economy, Macroeconomic Conditions and Economic Growth in Jordan

This paper analyses the impact of key elements of the digital economy on the Jordanian economy. It fills a gap in the literature by exploring the existence of disaggregated digital economy indicators—Internet penetration, mobile use, broadband access, e-government development, and digital skills—having heterogeneous impacts on growth in Jordan, which has seen high rates of digitalisation without corresponding growth in its economy. The research uses time-series data from the past 35 years (1990–2024) to estimate short- and long-run variables using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) method. The findings support the existence of a long-run cointegrating relationship between indicators of the digital economy and economic growth. Although the short-run effects of all digital variables are positive, Internet penetration and e-government development have the most significant long-run influence on growth. Digital skills also become an important complementary element that strengthens the productivity-enhancing impact of digital infrastructure. The study is relevant for the literature as it is based on a disaggregated, country-specific time series framework beyond the scope of traditional aggregate ICT indicators. There are policy implications: Jordan’s digital strategy should not be based only on investments in infrastructure, but also investments in human capital, institutional digital transformation and macro-economic stability.