Broadband for All / The Economist

It is not just America that is betting on technology to help revive its economy. Though exact numbers remain to be determined, stimulus packages in other rich countries are likely to include large doses of technology spending, says Sacha Wunsch-Vincent, an economist at the OECD who has analysed more than two dozen such plans. A common theme is “broadband for all”, echoed by a British government report called “Digital Britain” due to be published on January 29th.

Broadband, goes the thinking, could boost economies in much the same way as railways and highways did in previous eras. Research shows that it is a general-purpose technology with effects not just in the telecoms industry, but all over the economy, as it enables new business models, processes and services.

Several studies conclude that, in slack economies, more broadband means more jobs. The Brookings Institution, a think-tank in Washington, DC, projects that for every percentage point increase of broadband penetration at state level, employment increases by 0.2% to 0.3% per year, equivalent to 300,000 jobs nationally. In the European Union, greater availability of broadband internet connections could create more than 2m jobs by 2015, according to a study by Micus and WIK-Consult, two German consulting firms.

Technology stimulus plans | Paved with good intentions | The Economist