Search

Using the 2005 ARMS data, significant factors are identified that influence the decision to purchase farm inputs over the Internet and reasons for not adopting the Internet. Internet input purchasing farmers tend to be younger and more educated. Non-adopters that are more educated most likely cite Internet security concerns as their primary reason for not adopting.

As health information technology becomes more prevalent for most healthcare facilities, hospitals across the nation are choosing between performing this service in-house and outsourcing to a technology firm in the health industry. This paper examines factors affecting the information technology (IT) outsource decision for various hospitals. Using 2004 data from the American Hospital Association, logistic regression models find that governmental ownership and a proxy variable for hospitals that treat more severe injuries positively impact the probability of outsourcing for IT services.

This paper examines the shifting influence of household characteristics and telecommunications infrastructure on the residential broadband adoption decision for Oklahoma residents between 2003 and 2006. In particular, the spread of wired telecommunications infrastructure (namely cable Internet and Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL)) is examined, along with the effect that this diffusion has had on broadband access rates. The data indicates that the gap in broadband access rates between rural and urban areas has remained relatively constant over this period despite increased levels of cable and DSL throughout the state. In addition, an inter-temporal decomposition shows that the increasing levels of infrastructure are not the dominant cause of higher broadband rates over time. Instead, shifting returns to specific characteristics (namely income) are found to be the primary contributors.

A significant gap exists in the percentage of rural and urban households that connect to the Internet. Furthermore, this "digital divide" has been increasing with respect to high-speed connections. The primary course of action to address this emerging high-speed digital divide has been to subsidize digital communications technology (DCT) infrastructure. This paper explores the diffusion of DCT infrastructure in both rural and urban areas over the period 2000 - 2003, and estimates its contribution to the emerging divide in high-speed access. The findings suggest that the rural - urban high-speed divide is more strongly associated with differences in household characteristics like education and income than differences in infrastructure.

A significant gap exists in the percentage of rural and urban households that connect to the Internet. Furthermore, this "digital divide" has been increasing with respect to high-speed connections. The primary course of action to address this emerging high-speed digital divide has been to subsidize digital communications technology (DCT) infrastructure. This paper explores the diffusion of DCT infrastructure in both rural and urban areas over the period 2000 - 2003, and estimates its contribution to the emerging divide in high-speed access. The findings suggest that the rural - urban high-speed divide is more strongly associated with differences in household characteristics like education and income than differences in infrastructure.

This paper explains the current "digital divide" in internet use between rural and urban areas using a Logit adoption model with data collected from the August 2000 Current Population Survey. A non-linear decomposition shows that rural - urban household attribute differences account for 66 percent of the digital divide, while place based differences account for the remaining 34 percent of the divide.