IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/itse13/88511.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

From upgrade to uptake: The effect of mobile internet infrastructure on usage of local online services

Author

Listed:
  • Mang, Constantin

Abstract

This paper provides evidence that superior mobile Internet infrastructure increases take-up of location-based online services. Using data from the largest German online platform for restaurant reviews, I find that upgrading the 2G network to 3G increases the number of restaurant reviews and the share of reviews written on smartphones. To identify the causal effect of the network upgrade, I exploit the geographic location of restaurants relative to cellular network antennas and the terrain around them. Since the 3G signal is much more dependent on a clear line-of-sight than the 2G signal, some restaurants that were previously well covered by 2G are blocked from 3G reception due to geographic obstacles such as hills and forests.

Suggested Citation

  • Mang, Constantin, 2013. "From upgrade to uptake: The effect of mobile internet infrastructure on usage of local online services," 24th European Regional ITS Conference, Florence 2013 88511, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:itse13:88511
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/88511/1/774082259.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Klonner, Stefan & Nolen, Patrick J., 2010. "Cell Phones and Rural Labor Markets: Evidence from South Africa," Proceedings of the German Development Economics Conference, Hannover 2010 56, Verein für Socialpolitik, Research Committee Development Economics.
    2. David Strömberg, 2004. "Radio's Impact on Public Spending," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(1), pages 189-221.
    3. West, Joel & Mace, Michael, 0. "Browsing as the killer app: Explaining the rapid success of Apple's iPhone," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(5-6), pages 270-286, June.
    4. Banerjee, Abhijit & Duflo, Esther & Qian, Nancy, 2020. "On the road: Access to transportation infrastructure and economic growth in China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    5. Michael Anderson & Jeremy Magruder, 2012. "Learning from the Crowd: Regression Discontinuity Estimates of the Effects of an Online Review Database," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 122(563), pages 957-989, September.
    6. Aschauer, David Alan, 1989. "Is public expenditure productive?," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 177-200, March.
    7. Fogel, Robert William, 1962. "A Quantitative Approach to the Study of Railroads in American Economic Growth: A Report of Some Preliminary Findings," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 22(2), pages 163-197, June.
    8. 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.
    9. John G. Fernald, 1999. "Roads to Prosperity? Assessing the Link between Public Capital and Productivity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(3), pages 619-638, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Constantin Mang, 2016. "Market Consequences of ICT Innovations," ifo Beiträge zur Wirtschaftsforschung, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, number 70.
    2. Hunt Allcott & Allan Collard-Wexler & Stephen D. O'Connell, 2016. "How Do Electricity Shortages Affect Industry? Evidence from India," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(3), pages 587-624, March.
    3. Wu, Guiying Laura & Feng, Qu & Wang, Zhifeng, 2021. "A structural estimation of the return to infrastructure investment in China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    4. Shi, Yingying & Guo, Shen & Sun, Puyang, 2017. "The role of infrastructure in China’s regional economic growth," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 26-41.
    5. Zhang, Yin-Fang & Ji, Shengbao, 2018. "Does infrastructure have a transitory or longer-term impact? Evidence from China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 195-207.
    6. Stephen O'Connell & Allan Collard-Wexler & Hunt Allcott, 2015. "How Do Electricity Shortages A\00ffect Production? Evidence from India," 2015 Meeting Papers 159, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    7. Fujii, Tomoki & Shonchoy, Abu S., 2020. "Fertility and rural electrification in Bangladesh," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    8. Xu Wang & Xiaobo Zhang & Zhuan Xie & Huang Yiping, 2016. "Roads to Innovation: Firm-Level Evidence from China," Working Papers id:11121, eSocialSciences.
    9. Qin, Xiaodi & Wu, Haitao, 2021. "Rural Infrastructure and Poverty in China," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 314996, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    10. Saidi, Samir & Mani, Venkatesh & Mefteh, Haifa & Shahbaz, Muhammad & Akhtar, Pervaiz, 2020. "Dynamic linkages between transport, logistics, foreign direct Investment, and economic growth: Empirical evidence from developing countries," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 277-293.
    11. Chiara DEL BO & Massimo FLORIO, 2008. "Infrastructure and growth in the European Union: an empirical analysis at the regional level in a spatial framework," Departmental Working Papers 2008-37, Department of Economics, Management and Quantitative Methods at Università degli Studi di Milano.
    12. Konno, Akio & Kato, Hironori & Takeuchi, Wataru & Kiguchi, Riku, 2021. "Global evidence on productivity effects of road infrastructure incorporating spatial spillover effects," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 167-182.
    13. Pushkar Maitra & William Yu, 2021. "The Long Shadow of Infrastructure Development: Long Run Effects of Railway Construction in Colonial India," Monash Economics Working Papers 2021-01, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    14. Sevgi Sezer & Tezcan Abasiz, 2017. "The Impact Of Logistics Industry On Economic Growth: An Application In Oecd Countries," Eurasian Journal of Social Sciences, Eurasian Publications, vol. 5(1), pages 11-23.
    15. Gibbons, Stephen & Lyytikäinen, Teemu & Overman, Henry G. & Sanchis-Guarner, Rosa, 2019. "New road infrastructure: The effects on firms," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 35-50.
    16. Jie Zhang, 2013. "Infrastructure, Industrial Productivity and Regional Specialization in China," Keio/Kyoto Joint Global COE Discussion Paper Series 2012-034, Keio/Kyoto Joint Global COE Program.
    17. 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.
    18. Sahoo, Pravakar & Dash, Ranjan Kumar & Nataraj, Geethanjali, 2010. "Infrastructure development and economic growth in China," IDE Discussion Papers 261, Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO).
    19. Stephane Straub, 2011. "Infrastructure and Development: A Critical Appraisal of the Macro-level Literature," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(5), pages 683-708.
    20. Tang, Chor Foon & Abosedra, Salah, 2019. "Logistics performance, exports, and growth: Evidence from Asian economies," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Mobile Internet; infrastructure upgrade; broadband;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L86 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Information and Internet Services; Computer Software
    • R42 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Government and Private Investment Analysis; Road Maintenance; Transportation Planning
    • H54 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Infrastructures

    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:zbw:itse13:88511. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.itseurope.org/ .

    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.