The Evolution of Advanced Large Scale Information Infrastructure in the United States

Is private industry investing in backbone digital technology in a manner consistent with social policy? To address this question we assemble highly disaggregate data and compute indices for the geographic distribution of advanced backbone information technology in computing and telecommunications, focusing on recent changes in the indices. Our evidence suggests that the stock of advanced information technology capital, and access to it, became more equally distributed across the U.S. between the mid 1980s and early 1990s. In light of these findings there needs to be careful rethinking of the current policy concerns about the distribution of backbone technologies.

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