The Skill Complementarity of Broadband Internet

Does adoption of broadband internet in firms enhance labor productivity and increase wages? This paper combines several Norwegian data sets to answer these questions. The paper finds suggestive evidence that broadband adoption in firms complements skilled workers in executing nonroutine abstract tasks, and substitutes for unskilled workers in performing routine tasks. Taken together, the findings have important implications for the ongoing policy debate over government investment in broadband infrastructure to encourage productivity and wage growth.