DATE / TIME:

2017•12•19    10:00 - 11:00

Location:

Guimarães

Speaker

João Luís Martins is an Academic Fellow at UNU-EGOV and a PhD in Economics student at the University of Minho. He holds a Master’s degree in Economics (2015) and a BA in Economics (2013), both from the University of Minho.

His main research interests are in the areas of Public Economics and Political Economy. He participated in projects funded by Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos and the European Social Fund about topics such as term limits, Portuguese local governments and local finances, voter turnout or dual training systems. He is presently focusing on applying econometric methods to study the economic effects of e-government.

Besides his research and academic activities, he has also a football career and is currently playing at Prio Portuguese Championship. He won the Gold Medal at the European University Games in Zagreb, 2016 and the Bronze Medal at the European Universities Football Championship in Osijek, 2015.

Abstract

For more than a decade, digitalizing governmental and public services, perceived as a mean to empower citizens and businesses, reinforce mobility, and enable efficiency and effectiveness, has been seen as a policy priority. The proposed essays aim to contribute for the understanding of this digitalization phenomenon by studying the ease of doing business and its relation to electronic government, public electronic procurement, and the demand side of EGOV and ICT.

Based on the obtained results, it is expected to reach a more detailed knowledge of the benefits and drawbacks of this growing phenomenon, as well as to contribute towards a better-informed discussion and policy design in this topic. Three econometrical essays are proposed. The first one, using a panel of more than 170 countries, on the relationship between electronic government and the ease of doing business. The second one, using data from more than 450 000 Portuguese public contracts, on public electronic procurement and procurement outcomes. The third one, using data from large scale surveys, on the use of e-gov and ICT from Portuguese households and firms.

In this seminar, the first essay methodology and results will be discussed with more detail, highlighting the role that EGOV can play as a business facilitator.