Abstract We evaluate a program by a private Internet Service Provider (ISP) intended to encourage low-income households to subscribe to broadband internet service. As part of its approval of the Comcast-NBCU merger in 2011, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) mandated a “voluntary commitment” by Comcast to introduce a low-income broadband program that Comcast has branded “Internet Essentials (IE).” We use data from the U.S. Census Current Population Survey (CPS) and the National Broadband Map and a differences-in-differences approach to evaluate the program's effects on subscription rates for eligible households. We find that between 2011, when the program began, and 2015, broadband adoption by eligible households—those with school-age children who were eligible for free or reduced-price school lunches—had increased by more among households that lived in areas in which Comcast provided broadband internet service than among households that lived in areas served by other cable providers. In our difference-in-differences approach, we estimate that about 66 percent of IE subscribers represent true increases in low-income adoption as a result of the program, with the remaining subscribers being households that switched from a competitor and households that would have subscribed as part of a general upward trend in adoption. We find that CPS survey respondents in IE eligible households had small and insignificant increases their likelihood of taking online courses or job training in Comcast territory relative to similar households residing in the territories of other cable providers and they showed no difference in the propensity to apply for jobs online. These results provide no evidence to support internet literacy training. We also did not find robust effects of some of the program's other components. In particular, IE makes computers available for $150, but we found no difference in the change in low-income computer ownership across cable territories. As a result, it would be hard to conclude that subsidized computers made a difference in broadband subscription despite the visceral appeal of such programs.

中文翻译：

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通过私人激励措施增加低收入宽带的采用

摘要 我们评估了一家私营互联网服务提供商 (ISP) 旨在鼓励低收入家庭订阅宽带互联网服务的计划。作为其在 2011 年批准 Comcast 与 NBCU 合并的一部分，美国联邦通信委员会 (FCC) 授权康卡斯特“自愿承诺”推出一项康卡斯特将其称为“Internet Essentials (IE)”的低收入宽带计划。我们使用来自美国人口普查当前人口调查 (CPS) 和国家宽带地图的数据以及差异中的差异方法来评估该计划对符合条件的家庭订阅率的影响。我们发现，从 2011 年开始，到 2015 年，与居住在康卡斯特提供宽带互联网服务地区的家庭相比，符合条件的家庭（有学龄儿童有资格享受免费或减价学校午餐的家庭）的宽带采用率增加更多其他有线电视提供商。在我们的差异中差异方法中，我们估计大约 66% 的 IE 订阅者代表了该计划导致低收入采用率的真正增加，其余订阅者是从竞争对手转向的家庭和本应订阅的家庭作为采用率总体上升趋势的一部分。我们发现，与居住在其他有线电视提供商地区的类似家庭相比，符合 IE 条件的家庭中的 CPS 调查受访者在康卡斯特地区参加在线课程或工作培训的可能性略有增加，而且他们的申请倾向没有差异在线工作。这些结果没有提供支持互联网素养培训的证据。我们也没有发现该程序的一些其他组件的强大影响。特别是，IE 提供的计算机售价为 150 美元，但我们发现有线电视地区低收入计算机拥有量的变化没有差异。因此，尽管此类计划具有内在的吸引力，但很难得出结论认为补贴计算机对宽带订阅产生了影响。