Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/176966 
Year of Publication: 
2018
Series/Report no.: 
CESifo Working Paper No. 6947
Publisher: 
Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo), Munich
Abstract: 
We evaluate the impact of a major European state aid programme for broadband deployment applied to rural areas in the German state of Bavaria in the years 2010 and 2011. Using matched difference-in-differences estimation strategies, we find that aided municipalities have – depending on broadband quality – between 18.4 and 25.4 percentage points higher broadband coverage than non-aided municipalities. This increase in broadband coverage, closing the digital divide, results in an average increase of six employed individuals living in the respective aid-receiving municipalities while leaving the number of employed (measured at the place of work) or self-employed individuals and wages unaffected. We therefore conclude that an increase in broadband coverage through state aid protects rural areas from depopulation, but does not contribute to a further closing of the economic divide in the form of creating new jobs.
Subjects: 
: government policy
state aid
ex-post evaluation
broadband
employment
rural areas
European Union
Germany
Bavaria
JEL: 
D62
D73
G38
H23
J23
K23
L52
L96
L98
R23
Document Type: 
Working Paper
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