The Last Mile of Broadband: Estimating the Economic Impacts of Connect America Fund Initiative
Name
Munyikwa-zanele-SMMR-Management-2023-thesis.pdf
Description
Thesis PDF
Size
1.56 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
52d35247d344bd17ea82d97681fc4615
Author(s)
Munyikwa, Zanele
Advisor(s)
Horton, John J.
Date Issued
February 2023
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
I use a county-level panel dataset from 2013 to 2019 to assess the impacts of a federal program that provided massive subsidies to facilitate the expansion of broadband infrastructure: The Connect America Fund Phase II Program. This program incentivized telecommunications carriers to provided broadband access to high-cost areas in the United States (typically rural and other underserved communities). I study the impact of this "last mile" of broadband and assessing broadband access on local economic employment outcomes. I find that program funding in a geographic area has a positive effect on weekly wages, and potentially has a positive impact on population development.
MIT Department
Sloan School of Management
Terms of Use
In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted
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