Abstract
Efforts to attract entrepreneurs and “creative class” workers have become important components of economic development strategies for rural communities. One commonly held perception is that broadband access is important for these types of employees; however, empirical research on the relationship between the two is generally lacking. This study uses county-level data from the continental U.S. to estimate spatial and first-differenced regression models on the association between broadband and measures of entrepreneurship/creative-class employees in rural areas. The results suggest that high levels of broadband adoption may in fact serve to reduce the numbers of entrepreneurs and creative class employees in rural America. These findings serve as a reminder that broadband is not a panacea for all issues of importance to rural communities and provide evidence that there may be negative implications associated with efforts to increase levels of rural broadband access and adoption.
Highlights
Broadband access1 has long been hailed as a savior for rural communities
The results suggest that broadband may not be a panacea for creative jobs in rural areas of the country, and that high levels of broadband adoption in these areas may be leading to losses among those likely to be employed in the creative class
For entrepreneurs (NFP), both dummy variables related to broadband adoption were not statistically significant
Summary
Broadband access has long been hailed as a savior for rural communities. Its distancenegating nature led researchers to be optimistic about the new opportunities presented to many rural communities in terms of education, health, and work (Stenberg et al, 2009; Kuttner, 2012). High levels of broadband access (or adoption) could both attract entrepreneurs looking to relocate as well as induce current residents to consider starting a business venture. The overall objective is to assess whether broadband availability/adoption has a meaningful relationship with these important categories of jobs in rural America and, if so, to demonstrate broadband’s role both currently and over time. Employing both spatial and first-differenced regression models, we find evidence that high (or increasing) levels of broadband adoption in rural areas are associated with lower propensities of creative class employment. Other results are more positive, with high levels of broadband availability in rural areas associated with higher entrepreneurial activity as of 2012
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