Still Little to No Evidence Broadband Actually Improves Productivity

You would be hard pressed to find any evidence for the thesis that broadband clearly boosts firm productivity, even if we all seem to believe that is the case. Some studies that find some small benefit cannot separate broadband from the other information technology introduced at the same time. But most of the time, it is hard to identify a clear correlation, much less causality.

As a practical matter, governments and others will continue to argue that broadband service has to be improved, because, you know, productivity will improve and economic growth will be aided. And, as a practical matter, firms will continue to deploy, and customers will buy, better broadband.

Still, it is worth noting that there is scant proof that broadband improves productivity.

“We find that the average effect of UFB (ultra-fast broadband) adoption on employment and... productivity is insignificantly different from zero, even for firms in industries where we might expect the returns to UFB to be relatively high,” say researchers Richard Fabling and Arthur Grimes,

One study found no correlation between broadband and productivity, when looking at digital subscriber line deployments. Another study also found no causal link between broadband use and productivity.

Yet other studies suggest that firm using more information technology, including broadband, do raise productivity, though it is not clear whether it was the broadband or the other innovations that contributed.  

Some studies note that it is difficult to tell which came first: a firm’s ability to wring value out of information technology, or broadband enabling that for a firm.

“One view is that good firms with good managers do most things in a better way, including use new practices at the right time,” note researchers from Stockholm University. “This makes studies of the impact of innovation, new management practices, work organisation and ICT use meaningless, since the good firms are much better in many other ways which are and can not be measured.”

Broadband and productivity seem to link together in a positive way, the researchers found. “If the company has broadband it is more likely that it will have higher productivity,” they say.

The study found that more productive firms use more technology. The problem is that researchers cannot conclusively say the correlation is causal. Maybe firms that use more technology are better at running their businesses. In any case, the researchers do conclude that “ICT use improves firm productivity.”

To be sure, virtually everyone assumes that broadband is good, and that faster broadband is better, even when studies do not suggest (whatever the social or educational value) there is a clear and quantifiable link between broadband and business productivity.