On the regional impact of broadband on productivity: the case of Brazil

Juan Jung () and Enrique Lopez-Bazo

No 201704, AQR Working Papers from University of Barcelona, Regional Quantitative Analysis Group

Abstract: This paper analyses the incidence of broadband on regional productivity in Brazil, intending to find out if the economic impact is uniform across all territories of the country. The possibility of performing a regional approach, instead of the usual country-level analysis, means an opportunity to disentangle the economic impact of broadband at territories which share a common institutional and regulatory framework as are the regions inside a country. Results suggest that the impact of broadband on productivity is positive although not uniform across regions. On the one hand, it seems to depend on connection quality and network effects. Faster download speed and critical-mass accounting for network externalities in the region enhance the economic impact of broadband. On the other hand, higher productivity gains are estimated for the less developed regions. The fact that the less productive regions in Brazil seem to be benefiting more from broadband may suggest that it can constitute a factor favoring regional convergence in the country.

Keywords: Broadband; Information and Communication Technologies; Regional Productivity JEL classification: O33; O47; R11 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 36 pages
Date: 2017-05, Revised 2017-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dcm, nep-dev, nep-eff, nep-reg and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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http://www.ub.edu/irea/working_papers/2017/201708.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: On the regional impact of broadband on productivity: The case of Brazil (2020)
Working Paper: On the regional impact of broadband on productivity: the case of Brazil (2017)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aqr:wpaper:201704

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