IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iab/iabdpa/201719.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The effect of broadband internet on establishments' employment growth: evidence from Germany

Author

Listed:
  • Stockinger, Bastian

    (Institute for Employment Research (IAB), Nuremberg, Germany)

Abstract

"This study investigates the effects of local broadband internet availability on establishment- level employment growth. The analysis uses data for Germany in the years 2005-2009, when broadband was introduced in rural regions of Western Germany and in large parts of Eastern Germany. Technical frictions in broadband rollout are exploited to obtain exogenous variation in local broadband availability. The results suggest that broadband expansion had a positive effect on employment growth in the Western German service sector and a negative effect in Western German manufacturing. This pattern of results is driven by pronounced positive effects in knowledge- and computer-intensive industries, suggesting that it is the actual use of broadband in the production process that leads to complementary hiring, respectively a slowdown of employment growth, in the respective sectors. For Eastern Germany, no significant employment growth effects are found." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Suggested Citation

  • Stockinger, Bastian, 2017. "The effect of broadband internet on establishments' employment growth: evidence from Germany," IAB-Discussion Paper 201719, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    • Handle: RePEc:iab:iabdpa:201719
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doku.iab.de/discussionpapers/2017/dp1917.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anders Akerman & Ingvil Gaarder & Magne Mogstad, 2015. "The Skill Complementarity of Broadband Internet," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 130(4), pages 1781-1824.
    2. Haller, Stefanie A. & Lyons, Seán, 2015. "Broadband adoption and firm productivity: Evidence from Irish manufacturing firms," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 1-13.
    3. Bertschek, Irene & Briglauer, Wolfgang & Hüschelrath, Kai & Kauf, Benedikt & Niebel, Thomas, 2016. "The economic impacts of telecommunications networks and broadband internet: A survey," ZEW Discussion Papers 16-056, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    4. Ivan T. Kandilov & Mitch Renkow, 2010. "Infrastructure Investment and Rural Economic Development: An Evaluation of USDA's Broadband Loan Program," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(2), pages 165-191, June.
    5. Joshua D. Angrist & Jörn-Steffen Pischke, 2009. "Mostly Harmless Econometrics: An Empiricist's Companion," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 8769.
    6. Bertschek, Irene & Cerquera, Daniel & Klein, Gordon J., 2011. "More bits - more bucks? Measuring the impact of broadband internet on firm performance," ZEW Discussion Papers 11-032, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    7. Hilal Atasoy, 2013. "The Effects of Broadband Internet Expansion on Labor Market Outcomes," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 66(2), pages 315-345, April.
    8. Wolfgang Dauth & Michaela Fuchs & Anne Otto, 2018. "Long‐run processes of geographical concentration and dispersion: Evidence from Germany," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 97(3), pages 569-593, August.
    9. Stock, James H & Wright, Jonathan H & Yogo, Motohiro, 2002. "A Survey of Weak Instruments and Weak Identification in Generalized Method of Moments," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 20(4), pages 518-529, October.
    10. Imbens, Guido W & Angrist, Joshua D, 1994. "Identification and Estimation of Local Average Treatment Effects," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 62(2), pages 467-475, March.
    11. Falck, Oliver & Heimisch-Roecker, Alexandra & Wiederhold, Simon, 2021. "Returns to ICT skills," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(7).
    12. Oliver Falck & Robert Gold & Stephan Heblich, 2014. "E-lections: Voting Behavior and the Internet," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(7), pages 2238-2265, July.
    13. Nadine Fabritz, 2013. "The Impact of Broadband on Economic Activity in Rural Areas: Evidence from German Municipalities," ifo Working Paper Series 166, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    14. Briglauer, Wolfgang & Dürr, Niklas S. & Falck, Oliver & Hüschelrath, Kai, 2019. "Does state aid for broadband deployment in rural areas close the digital and economic divide?," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 68-85.
    15. Brian Whitacre & Roberto Gallardo & Sharon Strover, 2014. "Does rural broadband impact jobs and income? Evidence from spatial and first-differenced regressions," The Annals of Regional Science, Springer;Western Regional Science Association, vol. 53(3), pages 649-670, November.
    16. Emmanouil Tranos & Elizabeth A. Mack, 2016. "Broadband Provision and Knowledge-Intensive Firms: A Causal Relationship?," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(7), pages 1113-1126, July.
    17. Giulia Canzian & Samuele Poy & Simone Schüller, 2015. "Broadband Diffusion and Firm Performance in Rural Areas: Quasi-Experimental Evidence," FBK-IRVAPP Working Papers 2015-10, Research Institute for the Evaluation of Public Policies (IRVAPP), Bruno Kessler Foundation.
    18. Constantin Mang, 2012. "Online Job Search and Matching Quality," ifo Working Paper Series 147, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    19. Blien, Uwe & Ludewig, Oliver, 2016. "Technological progress and (un)employment development," IAB-Discussion Paper 201622, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    20. Lars-Hendrik Roller & Leonard Waverman, 2001. "Telecommunications Infrastructure and Economic Development: A Simultaneous Approach," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(4), pages 909-923, September.
    21. Nina Czernich, 2012. "Broadband Internet and Political Participation: Evidence for G ermany," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 65(1), pages 31-52, February.
    22. repec:iab:iabfme:201006(en is not listed on IDEAS
    23. David Autor & David Dorn, 2009. "This Job Is "Getting Old": Measuring Changes in Job Opportunities Using Occupational Age Structure," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(2), pages 45-51, May.
    24. Jerry Hausman, 2001. "Mismeasured Variables in Econometric Analysis: Problems from the Right and Problems from the Left," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 15(4), pages 57-67, Fall.
    25. Kolko, Jed, 2012. "Broadband and local growth," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(1), pages 100-113.
    26. Lisa J. Dettling, 2013. "Broadband in the labor market: The impact of residential high speed internet on married women's labor force participation," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2013-65, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    27. Pierre Cahuc & André Zylberberg, 2004. "Labor Economics," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 026203316x, December.
    28. Hethey, Tanja & Schmieder, Johannes F., 2010. "Using worker flows in the analysis of establishment turnover : evidence from German administrative data," FDZ Methodenreport 201006_en, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    29. Bertschek, Irene & Niebel, Thomas, 2016. "Mobile and more productive? Firm-level evidence on the productivity effects of mobile internet use," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(9), pages 888-898.
    30. Nina Czernich & Oliver Falck & Tobias Kretschmer & Ludger Woessmann, 2011. "Broadband Infrastructure and Economic Growth," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 121(552), pages 505-532, May.
    31. Holt, Lynne & Jamison, Mark, 0. "Broadband and contributions to economic growth: Lessons from the US experience," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(10-11), pages 575-581, November.
    32. Gruhl, Anja & Schmucker, Alexandra & Seth, Stefan, 2012. "The establishment history panel 1975-2010 : handbook version 2.2.1," FDZ Datenreport. Documentation on Labour Market Data 201204_en, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    33. Timothy De Stefano & Richard Kneller & Jonathan Timmis, 2014. "The (Fuzzy) Digital Divide: The Effect of Broadband Internet Use on UK Firm Performance," Discussion Papers 14/06, University of Nottingham, School of Economics.
    34. Koutroumpis, Pantelis, 2009. "The economic impact of broadband on growth: A simultaneous approach," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(9), pages 471-485, October.
    35. Czernich, Nina, 2014. "Does broadband internet reduce the unemployment rate? Evidence for Germany," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 32-45.
    36. Oecd, 2008. "Measuring the Impacts of ICT Using Official Statistics," OECD Digital Economy Papers 136, OECD Publishing.
    37. AfDB AfDB, . "Annual Report 2012," Annual Report, African Development Bank, number 461.
    38. Briglauer, Wolfgang & Dürr, Niklas S. & Falck, Oliver & Hüschelrath, Kai, 2019. "Does state aid for broadband deployment in rural areas close the digital and economic divide?," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 68-85.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Peters, Jan Cornelius, 2016. "Quantifying the effect of labor market size on learning externalities," Economics Working Papers 2016-11, Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, Department of Economics.
    2. Horwitz, Rachel & Brockhaus, Sarah & Henninger, Felix & Kieslich, Pascal & Schierholz, Malte & Keusch, Florian & Kreuter, Frauke, 2017. "Learning from mouse movements: Improving questionnaire and respondents' user experience through passive data collection," IAB-Discussion Paper 201734, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    3. Hutter, Christian & Weber, Enzo, 2017. "The effects of skill-biased technical change on productivity flattening and hours worked," IAB-Discussion Paper 201732, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    4. Carbonero, Francesco & Offermanns, Christian J. & Weber, Enzo, 2017. "The fall of the labour income share: the role of technological change and imperfect labour markets," IAB-Discussion Paper 201728, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bastian Stockinger, 2019. "Broadband internet availability and establishments’ employment growth in Germany: evidence from instrumental variables estimations," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 53(1), pages 1-23, December.
    2. Bertschek, Irene & Briglauer, Wolfgang & Hüschelrath, Kai & Kauf, Benedikt & Niebel, Thomas, 2016. "The economic impacts of telecommunications networks and broadband internet: A survey," ZEW Discussion Papers 16-056, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    3. Briglauer, Wolfgang & Dürr, Niklas S. & Falck, Oliver & Hüschelrath, Kai, 2019. "Does state aid for broadband deployment in rural areas close the digital and economic divide?," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 68-85.
    4. Bertschek Irene & Briglauer Wolfgang & Hüschelrath Kai & Kauf Benedikt & Niebel Thomas, 2015. "The Economic Impacts of Broadband Internet: A Survey," Review of Network Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 14(4), pages 201-227, December.
    5. Calvin Jones & Dylan Henderson, 2019. "Broadband and uneven spatial development: The case of Cardiff City-Region," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 34(3), pages 228-247, May.
    6. Jung, Juan & López-Bazo, Enrique, 2020. "On the regional impact of broadband on productivity: The case of Brazil," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(1).
    7. Gürtzgen, Nicole & (né Nolte), André Diegmann & Pohlan, Laura & van den Berg, Gerard J., 2021. "Do digital information technologies help unemployed job seekers find a job? Evidence from the broadband internet expansion in Germany," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    8. Hasbi, Maude & Bohlin, Erik, 2021. "Impact of Broadband Quality on Median Income and Unemployment: Evidence from Sweden," 23rd ITS Biennial Conference, Online Conference / Gothenburg 2021. Digital societies and industrial transformations: Policies, markets, and technologies in a post-Covid world 238026, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    9. Canzian, Giulia & Poy, Samuele & Schüller, Simone, 2019. "Broadband upgrade and firm performance in rural areas: Quasi-experimental evidence," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 87-103.
    10. Abrardi, Laura & Cambini, Carlo, 2019. "Ultra-fast broadband investment and adoption: A survey," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 183-198.
    11. Hasbi, Maude, 2017. "Impact of Very High-Speed Broadband on Local Economic Growth: Empirical Evidence," 14th ITS Asia-Pacific Regional Conference, Kyoto 2017: Mapping ICT into Transformation for the Next Information Society 168484, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    12. Briglauer, Wolfgang & Stocker, Volker, 2020. "Bedeutung digitaler Infrastrukturen und Dienste und Maßnahmen zur Förderung der Resilienz in Krisenzeiten," Policy Notes 42, EcoAustria – Institute for Economic Research.
    13. Lindlacher, Valentin, 2021. "Low demand despite broad supply: Is high-speed Internet an infrastructure of general interest?," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    14. Bertschek, Irene & Niebel, Thomas, 2016. "Mobile and more productive? Firm-level evidence on the productivity effects of mobile internet use," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(9), pages 888-898.
    15. Falk, Martin & Hagsten, Eva, 2021. "Impact of high-speed broadband access on local establishment dynamics," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(4).
    16. Briglauer, Wolfgang & Dürr, Niklas & Gugler, Klaus, 2021. "A retrospective study on the regional benefits and spillover effects of high-speed broadband networks: Evidence from German counties," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    17. Yifeng Philip Chen & Edward J. Oughton & Jakub Zagdanski & Maggie Mo Jia & Peter Tyler, 2023. "Crowdsourced data indicates broadband has a positive impact on local business creation," Papers 2308.14734, arXiv.org.
    18. Canzian, Giulia & Poy, Samuele & Schüller, Simone, 2015. "Broadband Diffusion and Firm Performance in Rural Areas: Quasi-Experimental Evidence," IZA Discussion Papers 9429, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    19. Falck, Oliver & Heimisch-Roecker, Alexandra & Wiederhold, Simon, 2021. "Returns to ICT skills," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(7).
    20. Lobo, Bento J. & Alam, Md Rafayet & Whitacre, Brian E., 2020. "Broadband speed and unemployment rates: Data and measurement issues," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(1).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Bundesrepublik Deutschland ; Ostdeutschland ; Westdeutschland ; Auswirkungen ; Beschäftigungseffekte ; Beschäftigungsentwicklung ; Dienstleistungsbereich ; Infrastrukturpolitik ; Internet ; ländlicher Raum ; produzierendes Gewerbe ; regionaler Arbeitsmarkt ; regionaler Vergleich ; sektorale Verteilung ; technischer Wandel ; Verfügbarkeit ; 2005-2009;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J63 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Turnover; Vacancies; Layoffs
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iab:iabdpa:201719. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: IAB, Geschäftsbereich Wissenschaftliche Fachinformation und Bibliothek (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/iabbbde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.