2025/11/27 by Hernán Galperín, François Bar, Angel Chavez Penate · 1 voice
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Engineering · Social Sciences · #Labor market dynamics and wage inequality #ICT Impact and Policies #Digital Economy and Work Transformation
paper · doi:10.1080/1369118x.2025.2591771
openalex publication_date 2025/11/27 · openalex created_date 2025/11/28 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22
This study investigates the labor market impacts of the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP), the largest U.S. initiative to date aimed at reducing income-based disparities in Internet access. We assess ACP’s effects on labor force participation and employment and test the hypothesis that a key impact mechanism is the expansion of remote work opportunities for program recipients. Using large-scale national datasets, we also explore heterogeneity in program effects by gender, occupation, and connection type (fixed vs. mobile). The analysis employs two complementary empirical strategies: (1) difference-in-differences estimators based on repeated cross-sectional data from the American Community Survey for 2016–2023 (N ≈ 29.8 million), and (2) augmented inverse propensity weighting (AIPW) models using cross-sectional data from the 2023 Current Population Survey (N = 35,561). The results provide robust evidence that ACP participation is associated with improved labor market outcomes, particularly among women and individuals with high-speed residential connections. These gains appear to be driven, in part, by increases in both the incidence and intensity of remote work. The findings suggest that a narrow focus on first-level adoption outcomes underestimates the broader socioeconomic benefits of affordable broadband initiatives. Theoretically, they indicate that the so-called Matthew effect – whereby digitization amplifies existing social inequalities – is not inevitable and can be partially offset by well-designed, targeted policy interventions.