IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/iepoli/v30y2015icp19-35.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The willingness to pay for broadband of non-adopters in the U.S.: Estimates from a multi-state survey

Author

Listed:
  • Carare, Octavian
  • McGovern, Chris
  • Noriega, Raquel
  • Schwarz, Jay

Abstract

We use data from a large-scale survey of non-adopting households to provide estimates of their willingness to pay for broadband. A large fraction – approximately 2/3 – of the reporting households indicated that they would not consider subscribing to broadband at any price. For the remaining households who indicated that they would consider subscribing, we find strong evidence in the data of over-reporting at high values of the willingness to pay for broadband. We correct for reporting bias using a semi-parametric procedure. Our estimate of the price elasticity of demand for broadband using the bias-corrected willingness to pay values is equal to −0.62, markedly different from the estimate of −0.95 obtained with the values reported by the survey respondents. Our estimates indicate that, on average, to achieve a 10% increase in subscribership, a price reduction of about 15% is needed. In addition, we estimate the impact of several household characteristics on the likelihood of broadband adoption.

Suggested Citation

  • Carare, Octavian & McGovern, Chris & Noriega, Raquel & Schwarz, Jay, 2015. "The willingness to pay for broadband of non-adopters in the U.S.: Estimates from a multi-state survey," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 19-35.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:iepoli:v:30:y:2015:i:c:p:19-35
    DOI: 10.1016/j.infoecopol.2014.12.001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167624514000523
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.infoecopol.2014.12.001?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Goolsbee Austan, 2006. "The Value of Broadband and the Deadweight Loss of Taxing New Technology," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 5(1), pages 1-31, April.
    2. Flamm, Kenneth & Chaudhuri, Anindya, 0. "An analysis of the determinants of broadband access," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(6-7), pages 312-326, July.
    3. Savage, Scott J. & Waldman, Donald, 2005. "Broadband Internet access, awareness, and use: Analysis of United States household data," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(8), pages 615-633, September.
    4. Savage Scott J. & Waldman Donald M., 2004. "United States Demand for Internet Access," Review of Network Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 3(3), pages 1-20, September.
    5. Klein, Roger & Sherman, Robert, 1997. "Estimating new product demand from biased survey data," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 76(1-2), pages 53-76.
    6. Fairlie Robert W, 2004. "Race and the Digital Divide," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 3(1), pages 1-40, September.
    7. Steven T. Berry, 1994. "Estimating Discrete-Choice Models of Product Differentiation," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 25(2), pages 242-262, Summer.
    8. Gregory Rosston & Scott Savage & Donald Waldman, 2010. "Household Demand for Broadband Internet Service," Discussion Papers 09-008, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, revised Feb 2010.
    9. Prieger, James E. & Hu, Wei-Min, 2008. "The broadband digital divide and the nexus of race, competition, and quality," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 150-167, June.
    10. Gary Madden & Michael Simpson, 1997. "Residential broadband subscription demand: an econometric analysis of Australian choice experiment data," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(8), pages 1073-1078.
    11. Greenstein, Shane & McDevitt, Ryan, 2011. "Evidence of a modest price decline in US broadband services," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 200-211, June.
    12. Rosston Gregory L. & Savage Scott J & Waldman Donald M, 2010. "Household Demand for Broadband Internet in 2010," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 1-45, September.
    13. Peter A. Diamond & Jerry A. Hausman, 1994. "Contingent Valuation: Is Some Number Better than No Number?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 8(4), pages 45-64, Fall.
    14. Chaudhuri, Anindya & Flamm, Kenneth S. & Horrigan, John, 0. "An analysis of the determinants of internet access," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(9-10), pages 731-755, October.
    15. Jerry Hausman, 2012. "Contingent Valuation: From Dubious to Hopeless," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 26(4), pages 43-56, Fall.
    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. Levin, Stanford Lee & Schmidt, Stephen & Scott, Graham, 2015. "Broadband for all: Policies for a connected society," 2015 Regional ITS Conference, Los Angeles 2015 146346, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    2. Liu, Chun & Wang, Lian, 2021. "Who is left behind? Exploring the characteristics of China's broadband non-adopting families," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(9).
    3. Lee, Hyun Ji & Whitacre, Brian, 2017. "Estimating willingness-to-pay for broadband attributes among low-income consumers: Results from two FCC lifeline pilot projects," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(9), pages 769-780.
    4. Ford, George S., 2021. "Confusing relevance and price: Interpreting and improving surveys on internet non-adoption," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(2).
    5. Chiha, Asma & Van der Wee, Marlies & Colle, Didier & Verbrugge, Sofie, 2020. "Techno-economic viability of integrating satellite communication in 4G networks to bridge the broadband digital divide," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(3).
    6. McCoy,Selina & Lyons,Seán & Coyne,Bryan & Darmody,Merike, 2017. "Teaching and Learning in Second- Level Schools at the Advent of High-Speed Broadband," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number RS51, June.
    7. Ros, Agustin J., 2023. "Determinants of fixed and mobile broadband demand in Mexico using discrete choice exercises and logit and conditional logit models," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    8. Chiha, Asma & Van der Wee, Marlies & Verbrugge, Sofie & Colle, Didier, 2018. "Techno-economic viability of integrating satellite communication in 4G networks to bridge the broadband digital divide," 29th European Regional ITS Conference, Trento 2018 184938, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    9. Sudtasan, Tatcha & Mitomo, Hitoshi, 2016. "Effects of OTT services on consumer's willingness to pay for optical fiber broadband connection in Thailand," 27th European Regional ITS Conference, Cambridge (UK) 2016 148709, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    10. Schmit, Todd M. & Severson, Roberta M., 2021. "Exploring the feasibility of rural broadband cooperatives in the United States: The new New Deal?," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(4).
    11. Levin, Stanford L. & Schmidt, Stephen & Scott, Graham, 2016. "Broadband Adoption: Translating the Digital Divide Literature into Effective Government Policies and Actions," 27th European Regional ITS Conference, Cambridge (UK) 2016 148684, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    12. Regmi, Sabina & Kim, Ayoung & Mills, Devon P. & Green, John, 2023. "Meta-analysis of Consumer's willingness to pay for broadband," 2023 Annual Meeting, July 23-25, Washington D.C. 335602, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    13. Lehtonen, Olli, 2020. "Population grid-based assessment of the impact of broadband expansion on population development in rural areas," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(10).
    14. Orhan Dagli & Glenn P. Jenkins, 2015. "Consumer Preferences for Improvements in Mobile Telecommunication Services," Development Discussion Papers 2015-05, JDI Executive Programs.
    15. Michiel Bijlsma & Carin Cruijsen & Nicole Jonker, 2023. "Consumer Willingness to Share Payments Data: Trust for Sale?," Journal of Financial Services Research, Springer;Western Finance Association, vol. 64(1), pages 41-80, August.
    16. Sobolewski, Maciej & Kopczewski, Tomasz, 2017. "Estimating demand for fixed-line telecommunication bundles," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(4), pages 227-241.
    17. Paulo Chahuara, 2018. "Preferencias y Valorizacion por Atributos del Servicio de Internet Fijo en el Peru: un primer acercamiento via experimento de eleccion discreta," Documentos de Trabajo 39, OSIPTEL.
    18. Liu, Yu-Hsin & Prince, Jeffrey & Wallsten, Scott, 2018. "Distinguishing bandwidth and latency in households’ willingness-to-pay for broadband internet speed," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 1-15.
    19. Jeffrey T. Prince & Scott Wallsten, 2022. "How much is privacy worth around the world and across platforms?," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(4), pages 841-861, November.
    20. Kopczewski, Tomasz & Sobolewski, Maciej & Miernik, Ireneusz, 2018. "Bundling or unbundling? Integrated simulation model of optimal pricing strategies," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 328-345.
    21. Carthy, Philip & Lunn, Pete & Lyons, Sean, 2018. "Demographic variation in active consumer behaviour: Who searches most for retail broadband services?," MPRA Paper 90366, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    22. Christopher S. Yoo, 2017. "Avoiding the Pitfalls of Net Uniformity: Zero Rating and Nondiscrimination," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 50(4), pages 509-536, June.

    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. Stenberg, Peter L., 2018. "The purchase of Internet subscriptions in Native American households," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 51-60.
    2. Prieger, James E. & Hu, Wei-Min, 2008. "The broadband digital divide and the nexus of race, competition, and quality," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 150-167, June.
    3. Prieger, James E., 2013. "The broadband digital divide and the economic benefits of mobile broadband for rural areas," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(6), pages 483-502.
    4. Trevor Roycroft, 2013. "Empirical study of broadband adoption using data from the 2009 Residential Energy Consumption Survey," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 43(2), pages 214-228, April.
    5. Dutz Mark A. & Orszag Jonathan M. & Willig Robert D., 2012. "The Liftoff of Consumer Benefits from the Broadband Revolution," Review of Network Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 11(4), pages 1-34, December.
    6. Arnold, René & Waldburger, Martin & Morasch, Bastian & Schmid, Frieder & Schneider, Anna, 2015. "The value of network neutrality to European consumers," 26th European Regional ITS Conference, Madrid 2015 127121, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    7. Mélisande Cardona & Anton Schwarz & B. Yurtoglu & Christine Zulehner, 2009. "Demand estimation and market definition for broadband Internet services," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 35(1), pages 70-95, February.
    8. Galperin, Hernán & Ruzzier, Christian A., 2013. "Price elasticity of demand for broadband: Evidence from Latin America and the Caribbean," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(6), pages 429-438.
    9. Aron Debra J. & Ingraham Allan T., 2012. "The Effects of Legacy Pricing Regulation on Adoption of Broadband Service in the United States," Review of Network Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 11(4), pages 1-38, December.
    10. Victor Glass & Stela Stefanova, 2010. "An empirical study of broadband diffusion in rural America," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 38(1), pages 70-85, August.
    11. Rosston Gregory L. & Savage Scott J & Waldman Donald M, 2010. "Household Demand for Broadband Internet in 2010," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 1-45, September.
    12. Boik, Andre, 2017. "The economics of universal service: An analysis of entry subsidies for high speed broadband," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 13-20.
    13. Sadowski, Bert M., 2017. "Advanced users and the adoption of high speed broadband: Results of a living lab study in the Netherlands," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 1-14.
    14. Pereira, Pedro & Ribeiro, Tiago, 2011. "The impact on broadband access to the Internet of the dual ownership of telephone and cable networks," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 283-293, March.
    15. Urama, Nathaniel E. & Ogbu, Osita, 2018. "Evaluating consumer perception and willingness to pay for broadband in Nigeria," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(6), pages 421-432.
    16. Srinuan, Chalita & Bohlin, Erik, 2013. "Analysis of fixed broadband access and use in Thailand: Drivers and barriers," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 615-625.
    17. Hidalgo, Julian & Oviedo, Juan D., 2014. "The impact of Broadband quality standards on Internet services market structure in Colombia," 25th European Regional ITS Conference, Brussels 2014 101435, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    18. Drouard, Joeffrey, 2011. "Costs or gross benefits? - What mainly drives cross-sectional variance in Internet adoption," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 127-140, March.
    19. Ferdinand Pavel & Yann Girard & Arno Hantzsche & Anselm Mattes & Julius Pahlke & Katherina Peter, 2014. "Wachstumsfaktor Telekommunikation: zum Beitrag der Telekommunikationsbranche zur wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung in Deutschland; Endbericht," DIW Berlin: Politikberatung kompakt, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, volume 78, number pbk78, Enero-Abr.
    20. Srinuan, Chalita & Bohlin, Erik, 2011. "Understanding the digital divide: A literature survey and ways forward," 22nd European Regional ITS Conference, Budapest 2011: Innovative ICT Applications - Emerging Regulatory, Economic and Policy Issues 52191, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Telecommunications; Broadband; Demand estimation; Survey data; Reporting bias;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C5 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling
    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • L86 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Information and Internet Services; Computer Software

    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:eee:iepoli:v:30:y:2015:i:c:p:19-35. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505549 .

    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.