The economic impact of mobile broadband speed

This paper investigates the association between mobile broadband speed and labor productivity. Based on panel data of 116 countries from 2014–2019, it finds no robust contemporaneous relationship, but there is a significant association when a one-year lag of mobile broadband speed is introduced. The interpretation of the results is that a 10 percent increase in mobile broadband speed is associated with 0.2 percent increase in labor productivity. The results are only robust for non-OECD and low-income countries, respectively.