Texas Tech University Economics Literature Review: Internet Impact

This report summarizes two research articles and a discussion paper focusing on the economic impact of the internet and telecommunication networks. The first article, by Bertschek et al. (2016), provides a quantitative overview of the economic effects of telecommunications networks and broadband internet, identifying research gaps related to broadband adoption and distribution of benefits. The second article, a thesis by Hadavand (2011), investigates the impact of the internet on the economic growth of upper-middle-income countries, highlighting the sensitivity of these economies to internet models and the influence of factors like income and GDP. The report details the research methods, findings, and gaps of each study, offering a comparative analysis of their contributions to understanding the relationship between internet infrastructure, adoption, and economic outcomes. The analysis also discusses the research gaps identified, such as the focus on infrastructure presence rather than adoption and the lack of focus on benefit distribution.

Table: Summary of previous literature
Article 1
Author(s), year Main focus Research method Research findings
Irene Bertschek,
Wolfgang Briglauer, Kai
Hüschelrath, Benedikt
Kauf, and Thomas
Niebel,2016
The economic effect of
the
telecommunications
network and the
broadband internet.
The research methods
that has been used
includes quantitative
analyses of the
telecommunication
networks. Quantitative
research methods have
been used along with
the regression model
In this research article
the authors have
provided a structured
overview of the
quantitative literature
based on the economic
impacts of the use of
the telecommunication
network and
broadband internet. It
analyses the different
options that is related
to the broadband
activity and broadband
internet. It helps in
providing a useful
information that will
help in using the
communication
networks for the social
welfare. The various
advantages of the
telecommunication
network has been
stated along with
aligning the same with
the growth of the

economies based on
the same. The authors
have collected
information about the
effect of the broad
band and
telecommunication
network of various
countries and that
includes quantitative
analysis of the data
that is collected. This is
analyzed both on
macro- economic level
and micro level and the
results have been
stated in tables with
research findings
stated there.
Research Gaps:
1. The major research gape includes that the large amount of studies is focusing on the impact of
the broadband on regional development on mere presence of broadband infrastructure rather
than focusing on adoption of the broadband technology as explanatory variables.
2. One more major gap is that most of the literature provides valid conclusions on the aggregated
effects of the telecommunication and broadband networks and not on the distribution of
benefits within the network units.

Article 2
Author(s), year Main focus Research method Research findings
Aboozar Hadavand,
M.Sc,2011
The impact of internet
on the growing
economies and effect
of the same on the new
and classic economic
growth models
The research method
that has been applied
in the article includes
studying about
economic models and
collecting data about
the economies of
various. The World
Bank Atlas Method is
followed for bifurcating
the countries.
The research findings
shows that the effect
of the internet on
upper-middle income
countries is sensitive to
the model
specifications. It has
more effect on
developed countries
than on developing
countries. There are
other factors too that
define the internet
growth relationship
and the number of
internet user is not the
only factor that affects
Research gaps:
 The article shows that the internet effect on upper middle class countries that includes a variety
of countries from Asia, Africa, South America, Middle East and Europe, is very sensitive to
internet model and the main reason for the same is existing endogeneity between the level of
national income and the diffusion of the internet.
 The article shows that the effect that the internet has on developed countries is very different
and a large share of that can be attributed to the level of income, the GDP of the country and
the developed resources that are found there.