Broadband Infrastructure and Unemployment - Evidence for Germany

Czernich, Nina (June 2011): Broadband Infrastructure and Unemployment - Evidence for Germany. Discussion Papers in Economics 2011-12

Abstract

Online job search is becoming increasingly prominent and is viewed to improve the efficiency of the search process. OLS results suggest a negative association of DSL availability with unemployment rates across German municipalities. However, the roll-out of DSL networks is not random. This paper exploits the fact that the availability of DSL connections depends on a municipality’s distance to the closest interconnection point to the pre-existing voice-telephony network. Instrumental-variable results using this distance as an instrument for DSL availability do not confirm the effect of DSL availability on unemployment.

• Item Type: Paper
• Keywords: Unemployment, job search, broadband internet
• Faculties: Economics; Economics > Munich Discussion Papers in Economics
• Subjects: 300 Social sciences > 300 Social sciences, sociology and anthropology; 300 Social sciences > 330 Economics
• JEL Classification: J64, L96
• Language: English

References

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Czernich, Nina (2011), Broadband Internet and Political Participation – Evidence for Germany, ifo Working Paper, in press.

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