Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/185315 
Year of Publication: 
2018
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 11855
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We study how the diffusion of broadband Internet affects social capital using two data sets from the UK. Our empirical strategy exploits the fact that broadband access has long depended on customers' position in the voice telecommunication infrastructure that was designed in the 1930s. The actual speed of an Internet connection, in fact, rapidly decays with the distance of the dwelling from the specific node of the network serving its area. Merging unique information about the topology of the voice network with geocoded longitudinal data about individual social capital, we show that access to broadband Internet caused a significant decline in forms of offline interaction and civic engagement. Overall, our results suggest that broadband penetration substantially crowded out several aspects of social capital.
Subjects: 
ICT
broadband infrastructure
networks
Internet
social capital
civic capital
JEL: 
C91
D9
D91
Z1
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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