Broadband Infrastructure and Economic Growth

Abstract

We estimate the effect of broadband infrastructure, which enables high-speed internet, on economic growth in the panel of OECD countries in 1996-2007. Our instrumental-variable model derives its non-linear first stage from a logistic diffusion model where pre-existing voice-telephony and cable-TV networks predict maximum broadband penetration. We find that a 10 percentage-point increase in broadband penetration raises annual per-capita growth by 0.9-1.5 percentage points. Results are robust to country and year fixed effects and controlling for linear second-stage effects of our instruments. We verify that our instruments predict broadband penetration but not diffusion of contemporaneous technologies like mobile telephony and computers.

The role of information and communication technology on green total factor energy efficiency: Does environmental regulation work?

“…It is worth noting that among the four single indicators that measure the level of ICT development (ICT penetration, ICT coverage, ICT information resources, and ICT business), ICT coverage has the largest coefficient. A likely explanation for this result is that, compared to the other three indicators, the construction of ICT coverage comes with direct demand for new technologies and new business formats, and these demands are conducive to enterprises building intensive, efficient, and intelligent production chains and can provide stable, unobstructed, and fast information support for these enterprises (Czernich et al, 2011). Therefore, it can more obviously facilitate the improvement of GFTEE.…”

“…In addition, scholars are also exploring the influencing factors of ICT development and its economic and social impacts and have obtained a large amount of valuable results (Choi & Yi, 2018; Liang & Lu, 2010; Meijers, 2014). Factors such as telecommunications infrastructure, financial resources, human capital, industry competition, and international trade have all been incorporated into research systems related to ICT development (Czernich et al, 2011; Goodman et al, 1994; Sadorsky, 2012). These studies must inevitably solve the same problem, that is, the measurement of the ICT development status.…”

Broadband Market Sizing in Brazil

“…It brings overarching benefits, encompassing telephone services, computer networks, satellite connections, to cite a few. As a result, broadband expansion takes on a significant economic effect, as pointed out by several studies (Stiroh, 2002;Czernich et al, 2009;Qiang & Rossotto, 2009;Katz, 2008 and2012;inter alia). The economic impact of broadband expansion has also been estimated in Brazil and has been deemed just as positive, as highlighted by Macedo and Carvalho (2010a;2010b).…”

Setting the Foundations for PoP-Based Internet Evolution Models

“…Roller and Waverman [30] studied how telecommunications infrastructure affects economic growth. This work was followed by other works, such as [6] and [19] that studied the economic impact of broadband infrastructure on growth. A research by Kolko [18] studied the relationship between broadband expansion and local economic growth in the US, but surveyed more indicators, such as industry type, population density, employment and income.…”