Search

This paper uses recent data on both broadband availability and adoption to empirically gauge the contribution of broadband to the economic growth of rural areas of the United States over the past decade. Availability data from the National Broadband Map aggregated to county level is used in conjunction with county-level adoption data from Federal Communication Commission. Economic variables of interest include median household income, number of firms with paid employees, total employed, percentage in poverty, and the percentage of employees classified as either creative class or non-farm proprietors. A propensity score matching technique (between a “treated” group associated with various broadband thresholds and a control group) is used to make preliminary causal statements regarding broadband and economic health. Growth rates between 2001 and 2010 for different economic measures are tested for statistical differences between the treated and non-treated groups, restricting the analysis to non-metropolitan counties. Results suggest that high levels of broadband adoption in rural areas positively (and potentially causally) impacted income growth between 2001 and 2010, and negatively influenced unemployment growth. Similarly, low levels of broadband adoption in rural areas lead to declines in the number of firms and total employment numbers in the county. Broadband availability measures (as opposed to adoption) demonstrate only limited impacts, suggesting that future broadband policies should be more demand-oriented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper argues that increasing average incomes and stagnating levels of happiness, as observed in the United States since the 1970s, do not constitute a paradox. First, we show that the effect of higher incomes has been more than counteracted by changes in other socioeconomic variables, notably the prevalence of marriage and divorce. Second, we show that the effect of a given amount of real income on happiness has not changed between the 1970s and the early 2000s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This paper first reviews the debate on the definition of pro-poor growth and argues that a relative definition has merits when defining the state of pro-poor growth, while an absolute definition is most suitable when analyzing the rate of pro-poor growth. The second contribution is to extend the pro-poor growth toolbox to non-income indicators. The analysis, applied to Bolivia, shows that this extension greatly improves our understanding of the distribution of change in non-income indicators, of the linkages between progress in income and non-income dimensions of poverty, and on the incidence of progress in non-income outcomes along the income distribution. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]