The Speed Matters blog recently pointed me to a new study from the Brookings Institute that “provides new estimates of the effects of broadband penetration on both output and employment, in the aggregate and by sector, using state level data.”
The report reminds me of a dissertation. As a former librarian I once read literally hundreds of dissertation abstracts (and many of the dissertations) for a publication. I realized back then that my best approach was to just keep tabs on the info that was new to me so I think I’ll just do that here. (Plus, I’m on vacation and can only commit to thinking so deeply.)
Points that interested me:
- For every one percentage point increase in broadband penetration in a state, employment is projected to increase by 0.2 to 0.3 percent per year.
- Employment in both manufacturing and services industries (especially finance, education and health care) is positively related to broadband penetration.
- State output of goods and services is positively associated with broadband use.
- Information Communications Technology (ICT) contributed 59 percent of the growth in labor productivity from 1995 to 2000 and 33 percent from 2000 to 2005.
- Broadband has had a positive impact on employment in finance, education, and healthcare but also manufacturing.
Brookings also makes some state-level policy recommendations. They promote video franchising laws that encourage more competition. They do not promote net neutrality as if closes a door that encourages provides to recoup costs (and therefore encourages investment). They also promote increasing the amount of radio spectrum available for commercial uses.
Interesting points you bring up, I also think they are correct not to promote net neutrality because of its overall longterm negative effect. I do some work for handsoff.org and I think its important to note the anti-free market implications such a policy would have and I believe that the FTC also recently came to a similar decision on the issue.
yes ann that study has been proven and it shows exactly how high speed communications helps.
Thanks for your comments! They use research to bring up some interesting points – it’s definitely worth perusing. And for those who are deterred by the academic overtones, here is a nice executive overview http://www.freepress.net/news/24400
Thank you for sharing that. I do hope that this and similar studies will lead to increased investment and further economic development. I seriously hope that government can come to the correct conclusion that this is something that is important to help stimulate and hinder through regulations like Net Neutrality . I would prefer it if more people were able to link the positive implications of such practices without automatically assuming that if something is beneficial to business it must be counter to the interests of individuals.
I think the folks who dreamed up the name “Net Neutrality” were/are good at public relations!
Absolutely, there is nothing neutral about government legislation that restricts markets hinders further investment in broadband as Net Neutrality is. I won’t be surprised if whoever is trying to spin this next tries to make it a partisan issue in another attempt to gain support.
That’s an interesting thought. Where do you think the sides will fall? Do you have a feel for which candidates (if any) will pick up the baton for either camp?
The one thing I really like about Net Neutrality is that it is a topic that has garnered some attention and interest and I think it opens the door for the regular Joes (not just industry insiders or techies) to look at tech policy in general – just to realize that policy does have an impact on technology, economic development, and everyday life.
Well, I expect that any candidate that is more in favor of free markets to be against net neutrality and additionally any that are generally against government regulation. I say that because it is a very anti-business piece of legislation and so while there will be a lot of Republicans against it, there will probably be quite a few Democrats against it as well. But unfortunately Washington isn’t always very logical so it will probably depend more on who explains it to the politicians first – “net neutrality” is a very pretty sounding word…
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