Summary:
This research seeks to evaluate the economic effects generated by cyberattacks. To do so, we develop a theoretical non-lineal model where different channels of economic effects are formalized, both in terms of GDP and productivity. We empirically estimate the proposed model for a sample of countries during 3 semesters, through non-linear least squares and generalized method of moments to account for endogeneity concerns. Our results point to strong evidence of cyberattacks affecting the economy through reducing workers' economic contribution since they will lose time dedicating themselves to recovering systems or turning them into manual tasks. On the other hand, we found some evidence of labor productivity becoming weaker due to cyberattack effects on physical capital or through diminished digital services contribution. The economic losses identified through this paper accounted for an average of 0.32% of the GDP in the countries analyzed.
Keywords: Cyberattacks; Cybersecurity; DoS; Economic effects
DOI reference:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdec.2026.07.001
Published on paper: January 2027.
Published on-line: July 2026.
Citation:
C. Uguet, J. Jung, "The economic impact of cyberattacks", Journal of Digital Economy, Vol. 6, pp. 69 - 79, January 2027. [Online: July 2026] doi: 10.1016/j.jdec.2026.07.001
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