Can internet infrastructure help reduce regional disparities?: evidence from Turkey

Mehmet Celbis and Crombrugghe D.P.I. de
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Crombrugghe D.P.I. de: UNU-MERIT

No 2014-078, MERIT Working Papers from United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT)

Abstract: This study presents novel evidence regarding the role of regional internet infrastructure in reducing regional per capita income disparities. We base our study on the assumptions that 1 the diffusion of information homogenizes regional economies through reducing the dissimilarities in institutions and culture, and 2 the telecommunication capacity, represented as the internet infrastructure of a region, facilitates this flow of information. Using the data from the 26 statistical regions of Turkey, we find evidence that internet infrastructure has contributed to regional convergence during the period 1999-2011. We also observe that the Turkish economic geography is defined by a strong core-periphery pattern and significant spatial clustering.

Keywords: Macroeconomics: Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment: General (includes Measurement and Data); Public Goods; Telecommunications; Economic Development: Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure; Measurement of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence; Size and Spatial Distributions of Regional Economic Activity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E20 H41 L96 O18 O47 R12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ara, nep-cwa, nep-geo, nep-mac and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:unm:unumer:2014078

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