Federal broadband investment and rural business formation: Evidence from rejected applicants
Summary. Federal broadband investment from the 2009 Recovery Act's $7.2 billion programs increased business formation in funded rural counties by 0.8 percent compared to rejected applicants, adding roughly 51,000 business locations. The study reconstructs a record of rejected applications from archived data to create a more accurate control group, showing that standard eligibility-based comparisons mix rejected applicants with counties that never sought funding, distorting previous evaluations.
Cite this article
Kumpas, G.. (2026). Federal broadband investment and rural business formation: Evidence from rejected applicants. Telecommunications Policy. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.telpol.2026.103327
Kumpas, Gokhan. “Federal broadband investment and rural business formation: Evidence from rejected applicants.” Telecommunications Policy, 2026. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.telpol.2026.103327.
Kumpas, Gokhan. 2026. “Federal broadband investment and rural business formation: Evidence from rejected applicants.” Telecommunications Policy. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.telpol.2026.103327.
@article{kumpas-2026-federal-broadband-investment-rural-business,
title = {Federal broadband investment and rural business formation: Evidence from rejected applicants},
author = {Gokhan Kumpas},
journal = {Telecommunications Policy},
year = {2026},
doi = {10.1016/j.telpol.2026.103327},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.telpol.2026.103327}
}
TY - JOUR TI - Federal broadband investment and rural business formation: Evidence from rejected applicants AU - Gokhan Kumpas JO - Telecommunications Policy PY - 2026 DO - 10.1016/j.telpol.2026.103327 UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.telpol.2026.103327 ER -
Details
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.telpol.2026.103327
- Countries
- United States
- Regions
- North America
- Categories
- broadband-and-digital, entrepreneurship, policy, general-innovation
- Added
- 2026-10-01