The contribution of US broadband infrastructure subsidy and investment programs to GDP using input-output modeling

More than one-fifth of the US population does not subscribe to a fixed broadband service despite broadband being a recognized merit good. For example, less than 4% of citizens earning more than US \$70k annually do not have broadband, compared to 26% of those earning below US \$20k annually. To address this, the Biden Administration has undertaken one of the largest broadband investment programs ever via The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, with the aim of addressing this disparity and expanding broadband connectivity to all citizens. We examine broadband availability, adoption, and need for each US state, and then construct an Input-Output model to explore the potential macroeconomic impacts of broadband spending to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and supply chain linkages. Our analysis indicates that higher funding allocations do appear to be allocated to areas with poorer broadband. While this may be logical, as it illustrates funding going to areas most in need, this could not have been assumed a priori given politically-motivated funding is not always rationally allocated. In terms of macroeconomic impact, the total direct contribution to US GDP by the program could be as high as US \$84.8 billion, \$55.2 billion, and \$5.99 billion for the BEAD program, ACP, and TBCP, respectively. Thus, overall, the broadband allocations could expand US GDP by \$146 billion (0.13% of annual US GDP over the next five years). We contribute one of the first economic impact assessments of the US Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to the literature.