Broadband and productivity: Structural estimates for Germany

Arbeitspapier

We study the impact of broadband availability on firms' total factor productivity (TFP) using German firm-level data between 2010 and 2015. We adopt a control function approach to causally identify and separately estimate productivity for 46 two-digit manufacturing and service sectors. Over the sample period, broadband availability, measured by 16 Mbps transmission rates, more than doubled in German municipalities. While this increased broadband availability has almost no effect on firms' productivity in manufacturing, it significantly increases TFP in most service sectors. Yet, the size of the effect is heterogenous across industries.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: DIW Discussion Papers ; No. 1988

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity ; Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis ; Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity ; Industrialization; Manufacturing and Service Industries; Choice of Technology ; Project Analysis ; Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
• Subject: broadband internet ; productivity ; firm-level data

Contributors, Location and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Duso, Tomaso ; Nardotto, Mattia ; Schiersch, Alexander
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW)
• (where): Berlin
• (when): 2021

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/249162
• Last update: 20.09.2024, 8:22 AM CEST