IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/uersib/340565.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Three USDA Rural Broadband Programs: Areas and Populations Served

Author

Listed:
  • Pender, John
  • Goldstein, Joshua
  • Mahoney-Nair, Devika
  • Charankevich, Hanna

Abstract

This study investigates the areas and populations served by three USDA rural broadband programs—the Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP), the Community Connect grant program, and the ReConnect program. BIP was the largest of these programs (through fiscal year 2021) in terms of net obligations and population in areas served (more than 1.3 percent of the U.S. population). However, BIP projects had the smallest value of obligations per person ($875 in 2020 dollars) and per square mile of approved project service areas ($26,000 in 2020 dollars). The populations served by all three programs tended to be more rural, less educated, poorer, and older than those in areas not served (for BIP) or ineligible (for Community Connect and ReConnect). All programs reached a larger share of the American Indian/Alaska Native (AIAN) and White populations than other races and a larger share of the non-Hispanic than Hispanic population. A larger share of the AIAN population was served by Community Connect and ReConnect because a larger share of the AIAN population was eligible. However, a smaller share of the eligible AIAN population lived in approved ReConnect project service areas than most other racial groups because a smaller share of eligible AIANs lived in areas that applied to ReConnect.

Suggested Citation

  • Pender, John & Goldstein, Joshua & Mahoney-Nair, Devika & Charankevich, Hanna, 2023. "Three USDA Rural Broadband Programs: Areas and Populations Served," Economic Information Bulletin 340565, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:uersib:340565
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.340565
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/340565/files/eib-258.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.340565?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ivan T. Kandilov & Mitch Renkow, 2020. "The Impacts Of The Usda Broadband Loan And Grant Programs: Moving Toward Estimating A Rate Of Return," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 58(3), pages 1129-1145, July.
    2. Bauer, Anahid & Feir, Donn. L. & Gregg, Matthew T., 2022. "The tribal digital divide: Extent and Explanations," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(9).
    3. Pender, John & Goldstein, Joshua & Mahoney-Nair, Devika, 2022. "Impacts of the Broadband Initiatives Program on broadband adoption and home telework," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(8).
    4. Ivan T. Kandilov & Mitch Renkow, 2010. "Infrastructure Investment and Rural Economic Development: An Evaluation of USDA's Broadband Loan Program," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(2), pages 165-191, June.
    5. Chang, Jieun, 2021. "Broadband technology opportunities program public computer center grants and residential broadband adoption," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(8).
    6. Whitacre, Brian & Biedny, Christina, 2022. "A preview of the broadband fabric: Opportunities and issues for researchers and policymakers," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(3).
    7. Stenberg, Peter L., 2018. "The purchase of Internet subscriptions in Native American households," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 51-60.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Anil Rupasingha & John Pender & Ryan Williams, 2024. "Broadband and rural development: Impacts of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Broadband Initiatives Program on saving and creating jobs," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 62(2), pages 698-721, April.
    2. Pender, John & Goldstein, Joshua & Mahoney-Nair, Devika, 2022. "Impacts of the Broadband Initiatives Program on broadband adoption and home telework," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(8).
    3. Anil Rupasingha & John Pender & Ryan Williams & Joshua Goldstein & Devika Nair, 2023. "Place‐based subsidies and employment growth in rural America: Evidence from the broadband initiatives programme," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 102(4), pages 677-708, August.
    4. Bai, Yang & Wang, Ryan Yang & Jayakar, Krishna, 2022. "What $2.5 billion can buy: The effect of the Broadband Initiatives Program on farm productivity," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(7).
    5. Biedny, Christina & Whitacre, Brian E. & Van Leuven, Andrew J., 2024. "Do Gigabits Mean Business? “Ultra-Fast” broadband availability's effect on business births," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    6. LoPiccalo, Katherine, 2022. "Impact of broadband penetration on U.S. Farm productivity: A panel approach," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(9).
    7. Wolfgang Briglauer & Michał Grajek, 2024. "Effectiveness and efficiency of state aid for new broadband networks: evidence from OECD member states," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(5), pages 672-700, July.
    8. M. Rose Olfert & Mark D. Partridge, 2010. "Best Practices in Twenty‐First‐Century Rural Development and Policy," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(2), pages 147-164, June.
    9. Andrea Bonilla‐Bolaños, 2021. "A step further in the theory of regional integration: A look at the South American integration strategy," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(5), pages 845-873, July.
    10. Canzian, Giulia & Poy, Samuele & Schüller, Simone, 2019. "Broadband upgrade and firm performance in rural areas: Quasi-experimental evidence," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 87-103.
    11. Steven Deller & Brian Whitacre & Tessa Conroy, 2022. "Rural broadband speeds and business startup rates," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 104(3), pages 999-1025, May.
    12. Briglauer, Wolfgang & Dürr, Niklas S. & Falck, Oliver & Hüschelrath, Kai, 2019. "Does state aid for broadband deployment in rural areas close the digital and economic divide?," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 68-85.
    13. Stockinger, Bastian, 2017. "The effect of broadband internet on establishments' employment growth: evidence from Germany," IAB-Discussion Paper 201719, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    14. Mack, Elizabeth A. & Wentz, Elizabeth, 2017. "Industry variations in the broadband business nexus," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 51-62.
    15. Mário Jorge Mendonça & Paulo R. A. Loureiro & Antônio Nascimento & Roberto Ellery, 2021. "Assessment of the effect of broadband expansion on the economy reviewed," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(4), pages 2414-2432, November.
    16. Renkow, Mitch, 2011. "Residential Broadband Availability: Evidence from Kentucky and North Carolina," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 40(2), pages 145-157, September.
    17. Alex Chernoff & Gabriela Galassi, 2023. "Digitalization: Labour Markets," Discussion Papers 2023-16, Bank of Canada.
    18. McCoy, Daire & Lyons, Sean & Morgenroth, Edgar & Palcic, Donal & Allen, Leonie, 2016. "The impact of local infrastructure on new business establishments," MPRA Paper 69074, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Huang, Zhuo & Tao, Yunqing & Zhang, Qidi & Ye, Yongwei, 2023. "The road to entrepreneurship: The effect of China's broadband infrastructure construction," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 1831-1847.
    20. Bertschek, Irene & Briglauer, Wolfgang & Hüschelrath, Kai & Kauf, Benedikt & Niebel, Thomas, 2016. "The economic impacts of telecommunications networks and broadband internet: A survey," ZEW Discussion Papers 16-056, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Agricultural and Food Policy; Community/Rural/Urban Development; Public Economics;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:uersib:340565. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ersgvus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.