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The rural telecommuter surplus in Southwestern Ontario, Canada

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  • Hambly, Helen
  • Lee, Jamie (Donghoon)

Abstract

This paper asks the question: what kind of economic benefits do rural telecommuters experience in Southwestern Ontario? This is a relevant question in Canada where, according to Statistics Canada (2017) one in 14 people work from home. This paper presents an overview of the current literature on telecommuting. We estimate the telecommuter surplus in Southwestern Ontario where the region is currently deploying one of Canada's largest publicly-funded ultra-high-speed broadband initiatives known as SouthWest Integrated Fibre Technology Inc. (SWIFT). The analysis is based on SWIFT residential and farm surveys (n = 3948) conducted in 2017. We find that an average telecommuter's surplus in terms of costs saved, including opportunity cost ranges from $8820 to $23964 per annum per telecommuter, depending on the number of days telecommuted per week for home and primary residence dwelling type. The social net benefits of telecommuting differ from its private net benefit (the focus of our paper) since the former includes both positive and negative externalities associated with telecommuting such as reduced traffic congestion, reduced probability of road accidents, as well as some workers shirking their duties (a negative impact). We leave this for future work.

Suggested Citation

  • Hambly, Helen & Lee, Jamie (Donghoon), 2019. "The rural telecommuter surplus in Southwestern Ontario, Canada," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 278-286.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:telpol:v:43:y:2019:i:3:p:278-286
    DOI: 10.1016/j.telpol.2018.07.009
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Song, Moohoun & Orazem, Peter & Singh, Rajesh, 2006. "Broadband Access, Telecommuting and the Urban-Rural Digital Divide," Staff General Research Papers Archive 12495, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    2. Fu, Miao & Andrew Kelly, J. & Peter Clinch, J. & King, Fearghal, 2012. "Environmental policy implications of working from home: Modelling the impacts of land-use, infrastructure and socio-demographics," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 416-423.
    3. Catalina Georgiana PICU & Alina DINU, 2016. "Research on the Current Telecommuting Trends in United States and European Union Markets," Management and Economics Review, Faculty of Management, Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 1(2), pages 194-202, December.
    4. Stanislaw ¯ukowski, 2015. "Telecommuting Opportunity to Use the Economic Potential of People with Disabilities in the Polish Economy," Managing Intellectual Capital and Innovation for Sustainable and Inclusive Society: Managing Intellectual Capital and Innovation; Proceedings of the MakeLearn and TIIM Joint International Conference 2,, ToKnowPress.
    5. Mitomo, Hitoshi & Jitsuzumi, Toshiya, 1999. "Impact of telecommuting on mass transit congestion: the Tokyo case," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 23(10-11), pages 741-751, November.
    6. Mokhtarian, Patricia L & Koenig, Brett E & Henderson, Dennis K, 1995. "The Travel and Emissions Impacts of Telecommuting for the State of California Telecommuting Pilot Project," University of California Transportation Center, Working Papers qt6rw695kc, University of California Transportation Center.
    7. Palvinder Singh & Rajesh Paleti & Syndney Jenkins & Chandra Bhat, 2013. "On modeling telecommuting behavior: option, choice, and frequency," Transportation, Springer, vol. 40(2), pages 373-396, February.
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    Cited by:

    1. Hernán Darío Cortés-Pérez & Manuela Escobar-Sierra & Rafael Galindo-Monsalve, 2023. "Influence of Lifestyle and Cultural Traits on the Willingness to Telework: A Case Study in the Aburrá Valley, Medellín, Colombia," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 24(1), pages 206-222, February.
    2. Worden, David & Hambly, Helen, 2022. "Willingness to pay and pricing for broadband across the rural/urban divide in Canada," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(2).

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