Tommaso Reggiani (Masaryk University) on "Broadband Internet and Social Capital" (with A. Geraci, M. Nardotto, F. Sabatini)

Speaker:  Tommaso Reggiani - Masaryk University
  Wednesday, June 10, 2020 at 12:00 PM Polo Santa Marta, Via Cantarane 24, Sala Vaona
The seminar will take place as a Webinar. Please, join the Meeting at this link: https://univr.zoom.us/j/91093232631

We study how broadband penetration affected social capital in the UK. Our empirical strategy exploits a technological feature of the telecommunication infrastructure that generated variation in the quality of Internet access across households. Merging information on the topology of the broadband network with geo-coded longitudinal data about individual social capital, taken from the British Household Panel Survey, we show that access to broadband Internet caused a significant decline in civic and political engagement. Overall, our results suggest that the introduction of fast Internet crowded out several aspects of social capital.

Programme Director
Alessia Sconti

External reference
Publication date
December 13, 2019

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