Boeri, Filippo 
ORCID: 0000-0001-8249-104X
(2025)
High-speed broadband and educational achievements.
Journal of Regional Science.
ISSN 0022-4146
Abstract
This study sheds new light on the short-run effects of access to high-speed internet on educational disparities. By following three million students belonging to six different cohorts over the period 2012–2022, I estimate the effect of the broadband infrastructure on student performance. While most previous contributions use discontinuous jumps in the available broadband connection speed across space at a given moment in time, this study exploits the gradual rollout of a national infrastructural policy associated with an increase in 30 Mbit/s household broadband coverage from 40% to 80% over a 6-year period. The estimation strategy relies on a unique data set, combining panel data on student performance with a rich set of school- and student-level information and broadband data measured at a very fine spatial scale. Results show an average null effect of high-speed broadband on 8th grade student performance in both literacy and maths. However, these results mask substantial heterogeneity: low performers in grade 5 and students with more advantaged backgrounds benefit from access to high-speed broadband, whereas the opposite is true for other students. Overall, the findings suggest that access to broadband widened performance disparities across students with different socioeconomic backgrounds.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | © 2025 Wiley Periodicals LLC. |
| Divisions: | Geography and Environment |
| Subjects: | L Education > LB Theory and practice of education H Social Sciences > HE Transportation and Communications |
| JEL classification: | H - Public Economics > H5 - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies > H54 - Infrastructures; Other Public Investment and Capital Stock O - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth > O1 - Economic Development > O18 - Regional, Urban, and Rural Analyses |
| Date Deposited: | 16 Dec 2025 10:54 |
| Last Modified: | 19 Dec 2025 10:22 |
| URI: | http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/130656 |
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