The impact of internet access on research output - a cross-country study

Abstract

There are large variations in research output among nations despite the rapid globalization progress. This article provides a new angle to help explain such variations. In this article, we study the impact of internet penetration on the research output of an economy. Using a country-level panel dataset, we find that higher internet penetration increases the volume of research output in an economy. The results are robust to a number of specifications, including an instrumental variable approach that addresses the endogeneity of internet penetration. We also find some evidence showing that the impact of internet penetration on research output quantity decreases as the size of fixed broadband users increase in an economy. The effects of internet access on research quality is less conclusive. Results suggest that broadening the access of internet is important for research output boosting or innovation in general.