There are two diametrically opposed ways of explaining this data correlating fixed network download speeds with gross domestic product per person (adjusted using the purchasing power parity method). We can see that speeds and GDP are positively correlated.
Higher GDP per person correlates with higher downstream home broadband speeds. What we cannot assert is that higher speeds “cause” higher per-capita GDP. We only know that speed and per-capita GDP are correlated.
Policy advocates always argue that higher investment in home broadband capability leads to higher economic growth and therefore higher GDP. They might point to such data as evidence.
The reverse hypothesis might also be advanced: higher per-capita GDP leads to more ability to pay, and therefore higher-quality home broadband. In other words, higher economic growth and per-capita GDP leads to stronger demand for quality broadband.
Higher income is correlated with internet adoption rates, for example. Higher adoption rates also are correlated with age and educational attainment. But we cannot argue that broadband “causes” that higher educational attainment, anymore than broadband causes age.
source: Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal & Economic Public Policy Studies
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