Need for speed: Fiber and student achievement

Richard Cole Campbell

Telecommunications Policy, 2024, vol. 48, issue 6

Abstract: This paper studies the impact of the introduction of fiber broadband in North Carolina, through the lens of student achievement. I link granular data on new fiber construction and advertised download speeds with administrative test score data and local labor market data. Exploiting variation in fiber availability at the census block group level, I implement a difference-in-differences design and find modest effects on educational outcomes, roughly equivalent to lowering class sizes by one student. I show fiber increases local employment and search intensity for supplementary educational materials. Last, I show that increased competition from fiber providers drives quality improvements in other available technology.

Keywords: Education; Broadband; Fiber; Digital divide (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I2 J23 L86 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308596124000648
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:telpol:v:48:y:2024:i:6:s0308596124000648

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/30471/bibliographic
http://www.elsevier. ... /30471/bibliographic

DOI: 10.1016/j.telpol.2024.102767

Access Statistics for this article

Telecommunications Policy is currently edited by Erik Bohlin

More articles in Telecommunications Policy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().