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ECIN Replication Package for "Broadband and Rural Development: Impacts of the USDA Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP) on Saving and Creating Jobs"

Name: ECIN Replication Package for "Broadband and Rural Development: Impacts of the USDA Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP) on Saving and Creating Jobs"
Published: 2023-10-12
License: This work is licensed under an Other license created by the data depositor. Please refer to the LICENSE file, which should be located alongside the project data and documentation.

Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s) Anil Rupasingha, USDA Economic Research Service; John Pender, USDA Economic Research Service; Ryan Williams, USDA Economic Research Service

Version: View help for Version V2

Name	File Type	Size	Last Modified
Readme.pdf	application/pdf	99.7 KB	10/12/2023 06:38:AM
SAS_exact_matching.sas	application/x-sas	7 KB	10/12/2023 06:36:AM
Stata_employment_analysis.do	text/plain	74.3 KB	10/12/2023 03:44:AM
Stata_survival_analysis.do	text/plain	21.7 KB	10/12/2023 03:40:AM

Project Citation:

Rupasingha, Anil, Pender, John, and Williams, Ryan. ECIN Replication Package for “Broadband and Rural Development: Impacts of the USDA Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP) on Saving and Creating Jobs.” Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2023-10-13. https://doi.org/10.3886/E194442V2

Project Description

Summary: We study the impact of the USDA’s Broadband Initiatives Program (BIP) on business outcomes in program recipient areas. The BIP was established by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 and implemented by the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) of the USDA Rural Development Mission Area. It was a $2.5 billion program (appropriations) that provided grants and loans to support broadband provision in unserved and underserved areas that were primarily rural. This research combines RUS program administrative data on BIP loans and grants and business outcomes and attributes data from the National Establishment Time Series (NETS) data. We use a quasi-experimental research design that combines matching with difference-in-differences (DiD) estimation to identify the causal effect of the BIP program on employment change at the establishment level and on business survival. Focusing on businesses that already existed in 2010, we find that the average employment decreased in both BIP and non-BIP area businesses during the post-program period, but the decline was slower for businesses in BIP areas. The statistical significance of the differences in employment change between the two groups indicates a positive impact of the program. A disaggregated view of the employment impacts show that the positive employment impact is mainly found to be statistically significant in metro counties, the service sector, and employer establishments. Results also show that businesses in BIP areas were less likely to fail compared to businesses in non-BIP areas and this effect is found to be different across metro/nonmetro counties, employer vs. nonemployer businesses, and broad industrial sectors.

Funding Sources: This research was supported by the intramural research program of the US Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service.

Scope of Project

Subject Terms: rural development

JEL Classification:
O18 Economic Development: Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure

Manuscript Number: ID ECIN-Apr-2022-0157

Geographic Coverage: United States

Time Period(s): 2008 – 2015

Data Type(s): administrative records data; observational data; other

Methodology

Data Source: 1. National Establishment Time-Series (NETS) dataset was purchased from Walls & Associates.
2. The administrative data for the Broadband Initiative Program (BIP) in the form of digitized maps of BIP areas and other RUS broadband programs were provided by the USDA Rural Development (USDA-RD).

Collection Mode(s): other

Unit(s) of Observation: NETS - business level; BIP - service areas

Geographic Unit: business level

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Published Versions

V3 [2023-11-15]

V2 [2023-10-13]

V1 [2023-10-12]

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