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Economic growth and broadband access : the European urban-rural digital divide

Michaël de Clercq (UGent) , Marijke D'Haese (UGent) and Jeroen Buysse (UGent)
(2023) TELECOMMUNICATIONS POLICY. 47(6).
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Abstract
This paper estimates the regional effects of high-speed broadband coverage on economic growth in a panel of 1348 regions across all European Union Member States between 2011 and 2018. We distinguish between different connectivity speed levels by aggregating the available regional data across all existing broadband technologies, and investigate how regional differences in the contribution of broadband coverage to real economic growth can quantitatively explain the persistence of the European urban-rural digital divide. In order to make our results robust to endogeneity and disaggregated data availability issues, we employ a bootstrap-based bias correction for the dynamic fixed effects estimator. We find that expansions in the provision of lower-speed broadband access accelerated annual per capita growth in both urban and rural regions through diminishing returns to scale, but that the effects were weaker in those regions characterized by larger ruralization. High-speed broadband coverage, on the contrary, could only be significantly related to rural economic growth and had no impact within their urban coun-terparts. We find evidence that the costs of these high-speed rural connectivity expansions had not yet been offset, but that they exhibit increasing returns to scale with cut-off levels nearing full coverage. These results indicate that the high-speed digital expansion of rural Europe is a po-tential gamechanger for further rural development policies through its role as a general-purpose infrastructure, and consequently argue in favour of increased efforts to close the urban-rural digital gap.
Keywords
Digital divide, Urban-rural digital divide, Regional economic growth, Rural development, Broadband access, Broadband coverage, TELECOMMUNICATIONS INFRASTRUCTURE, PANEL-DATA, BIAS CORRECTION, HOUSEHOLDS, TELEGRAPH, SPEED, AGE, ICT, EU

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MLA
de Clercq, Michaël, et al. “Economic Growth and Broadband Access : The European Urban-Rural Digital Divide.” TELECOMMUNICATIONS POLICY, vol. 47, no. 6, 2023, doi:10.1016/j.telpol.2023.102579.
APA
de Clercq, M., D’Haese, M., & Buysse, J. (2023). Economic growth and broadband access : the European urban-rural digital divide. TELECOMMUNICATIONS POLICY, 47(6). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.telpol.2023.102579
Chicago author-date
Clercq, Michaël de, Marijke D’Haese, and Jeroen Buysse. 2023. “Economic Growth and Broadband Access : The European Urban-Rural Digital Divide.” TELECOMMUNICATIONS POLICY 47 (6). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.telpol.2023.102579.
Chicago author-date (all authors)
de Clercq, Michaël, Marijke D’Haese, and Jeroen Buysse. 2023. “Economic Growth and Broadband Access : The European Urban-Rural Digital Divide.” TELECOMMUNICATIONS POLICY 47 (6). doi:10.1016/j.telpol.2023.102579.
Vancouver
1.
de Clercq M, D’Haese M, Buysse J. Economic growth and broadband access : the European urban-rural digital divide. TELECOMMUNICATIONS POLICY. 2023;47(6).
IEEE
[1]
M. de Clercq, M. D’Haese, and J. Buysse, “Economic growth and broadband access : the European urban-rural digital divide,” TELECOMMUNICATIONS POLICY, vol. 47, no. 6, 2023.
@article{01H7JAA52VEDJM5PHCYF84AA03,
  abstract     = {{This paper estimates the regional effects of high-speed broadband coverage on economic growth in a panel of 1348 regions across all European Union Member States between 2011 and 2018. We distinguish between different connectivity speed levels by aggregating the available regional data across all existing broadband technologies, and investigate how regional differences in the contribution of broadband coverage to real economic growth can quantitatively explain the persistence of the European urban-rural digital divide. In order to make our results robust to endogeneity and disaggregated data availability issues, we employ a bootstrap-based bias correction for the dynamic fixed effects estimator. We find that expansions in the provision of lower-speed broadband access accelerated annual per capita growth in both urban and rural regions through diminishing returns to scale, but that the effects were weaker in those regions characterized by larger ruralization. High-speed broadband coverage, on the contrary, could only be significantly related to rural economic growth and had no impact within their urban coun-terparts. We find evidence that the costs of these high-speed rural connectivity expansions had not yet been offset, but that they exhibit increasing returns to scale with cut-off levels nearing full coverage. These results indicate that the high-speed digital expansion of rural Europe is a po-tential gamechanger for further rural development policies through its role as a general-purpose infrastructure, and consequently argue in favour of increased efforts to close the urban-rural digital gap.}},
  articleno    = {{102579}},
  author       = {{de Clercq, Michaël and D'Haese, Marijke and Buysse, Jeroen}},
  issn         = {{0308-5961}},
  journal      = {{TELECOMMUNICATIONS POLICY}},
  keywords     = {{Digital divide,Urban-rural digital divide,Regional economic growth,Rural development,Broadband access,Broadband coverage,TELECOMMUNICATIONS INFRASTRUCTURE,PANEL-DATA,BIAS CORRECTION,HOUSEHOLDS,TELEGRAPH,SPEED,AGE,ICT,EU}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{6}},
  pages        = {{12}},
  title        = {{Economic growth and broadband access : the European urban-rural digital divide}},
  url          = {{http://doi.org/10.1016/j.telpol.2023.102579}},
  volume       = {{47}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}
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