  It was not until the beginning of the 1990s that the effects of information
and communication technology on economic growth as well as on the profitability
of enterprises raised the interest of researchers. After giving a general
description on the relationship between a more intense use of ICT devices and
dynamic economic growth, the author identified and explained those four
channels that had a robust influence on economic growth and productivity. When
comparing the use of information technonology devices in developed as well as
in developing countries, the author highlighted the importance of the available
additional human capital and the elimination of organizational inflexibilities
in the attempt of narrowing the productivity gap between the developed and
developing nations. By processing a large quantitiy of information gained from
Hungarian enterprises operating in several economic sectors, the author made an
attempt to find a strong correlation between the development level of using ICT
devices and profitability together with total factor productivity. Although the
impact of using ICT devices cannot be measured unequivocally at the
microeconomic level because of certain statistical and methodological
imperfections, by applying such analytical methods as cluster analysis and
correlation and regression calculation, the author managed to prove that both
the correlation coefficient and the gradient of the regression trend line
showed a positive relationship between the extensive use of information and
communication technology and the profitability of enterprises.
