Broadband Internet and Income Inequality

Georges Vivien Houngbonon (1) , Julienne Liang (2)

1 LGI - Laboratoire Génie Industriel - EA 2606
2 France Télécom

Policy makers are aiming for a large coverage of high-speed broadband Internet. However , there is still a lack of evidence about its effects on income distribution. In this paper, we investigate the effects of fixed broadband Internet on mean income and income inequality using a unique town-level data on broadband adoption and quality in France. We find that broadband adoption and quality raise mean income and lower income inequality. These results are robust to initial conditions, and yield policy implications for the deployment of faster broadband Internet.

Mots clés: Broadband Internet; Income Inequality; Telecommunications

Domaines: Économie et finance quantitative [q-fin]

Georges Vivien Houngbonon, Julienne Liang. Broadband Internet and Income Inequality. 2017. ⟨hal-01653815⟩