When metropolitan location is not enough: how digital technology supported businesses during COVID‐19

Chloé Duvivier (), Diego Cardenas‐morales and Jean Dubé
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Chloé Duvivier: Territoires - Territoires - AgroParisTech - VAS - VetAgro Sup - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur et de recherche en alimentation, santé animale, sciences agronomiques et de l'environnement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - UCA - Université Clermont Auvergne
Diego Cardenas‐morales: ÉSAD - École supérieure d’aménagement du territoire et de développement régional [Laval] - ULaval - Université Laval [Québec]
Jean Dubé: ULaval - Université Laval [Québec]

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Abstract: Digital technology has played a major role in helping businesses withstand the economic shock resulting from the health crisis. The paper examines how digital technology, particularly broadband access, shapes the economic resilience of French establishments across the metropolitan-to-peripheral spectrum. Using a large survey of businesses from March 2020 to December 2021 and an exact matching procedure, we find that broadband access was crucial in helping businesses manage the crisis, particularly in areas outside major urban centers. Results are robust across indicators of economic performance, definitions of digital technology, matching variables, and area typologies. Although other factors may play a role, differences in digital maturity across locations account for a non-negligible part of the spatial variation in broadband's impact. The results suggest that the health crisis may have helped narrow the gap between central and peripheral regions, as establishments outside urban centers were forced to adopt digital technologies.

Keywords: COVID-19; Digital; Economic resilience; Metropolitan-to-peripheral spectrum (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-04-10
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-05651331v1
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Published in Growth and Change, 2026, 57 (2), ⟨10.1111/grow.70125⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05651331

DOI: 10.1111/grow.70125

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