Tranos, Emmanouil, Kitsos, Tasos and Wolf, Levi John (2025). Fast and furious: the productivity effects of the geography of experienced internet speeds. Journal of Economic Geography ,
Abstract
The link between digital technologies and productivity has long intrigued researchers. Key to unpacking this relationship is detailed data connecting internet usage, economic outputs, and places. Using a multilevel modelling framework, we combine firm-level microdata with unique internet speed microdata that reflect end-user experiences, distinguishing upload and download speeds. This approach approximates business internet usage and reveals that higher speeds boost productivity, while unstable speeds have the opposite effect. These findings highlight the economic importance of high-speed internet infrastructure and present policymakers with a trade-off between efficiency and equity in planning decisions.
| Publication DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1093/jeg/lbaf045 |
|---|---|
| Divisions: | College of Business and Social Sciences > Aston Business School > Economics, Finance & Entrepreneurship College of Business and Social Sciences College of Business and Social Sciences > Aston Business School > Centre for Personal Financial Wellbeing College of Business and Social Sciences > Aston Business School Aston University (General) |
| Funding Information: | This research was funded by a generous grant from Facebook (project: Digital economy and regional inequalities in the UK: Opportunity for disruption, ‘levelling-up’ or deepening path dependency?). |
| Additional Information: | Copyright © The Author (2025). Published by Oxford University Press. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact reprints@oup.com for reprints and translation rights for reprints. All other permissions can be obtained through our RightsLink service via the Permissions link on the article page on our site—for further information please contact journals.permissions@oup.com |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | internet,broadband,speed,productivity,multilevel modelling |
| Publication ISSN: | 1468-2710 |
| Data Access Statement: | This work includes analysis based on data from the Business Structure Database 1997–2023: 16th Edition, Secure Access, UK Data Service. SN: 6697 (DOI: http://doi.org/10.5255/UKDA-SN-6697-16), produced by the Office For National Statistics (ONS). The data are crown copyright and reproduced with permission of the controller of HMSO and Queen’s Printer for Scotland. The use of the ONS statistical data in this work does not imply the endorsement of the ONS or the Secure Lab at the UK Data Archive in relation to the interpretation or analysis of the data. This work uses research datasets that may not exactly reproduce National Statistics aggregates. All outputs have been granted final clearance by the staff of the Secure Lab—UKDS. This paper represents the view of the authors, not the funders or the data providers. |
| Last Modified: | 12 Nov 2025 08:04 |
| Date Deposited: | 11 Nov 2025 11:40 |
| Full Text Link: | |
| Related URLs: |
https://academi ... lbaf045/8315303
(Publisher URL) |
PURE Output Type: | Article |
| Published Date: | 2025-11-06 |
| Published Online Date: | 2025-11-06 |
| Accepted Date: | 2025-09-22 |
| Authors: |
Tranos, Emmanouil
Kitsos, Tasos ( 
0000-0002-5338-2714)
Wolf, Levi John |
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