Open Access Journal Article

The U.S. Broadband Tribal Gap: An Empirical Evaluation

by George S. Ford a,*
a
Chief Economist, Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal & Economic Public Policy Studies, Washington, US
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
JRE  2024 3(1):16; https://doi.org/10.58567/jre03010005
Received: 24 January 2024 / Accepted: 6 November 2024 / Published Online: 7 March 2025
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Abstract

Broadband availability is generally lower in the Tribal areas of the United States than in other areas and several policies implemented over the years aim to close that gap. Using data on broadband deployment over the years 2014-2020, progress in closing the Tribal Gap is evaluated. Unmatched and matched sample are used, and a sample of census tracts within 30 miles of a Tribal area are also analyzed with and without matching. The gap between Tribal and non-Tribal census tracks has been getting smaller over time and by 2020 the Tribal Gap was near zero in all cases, especially when the deployment differences are conditioned on a few covariates.

Keywords: Broadband; Tribal; non-Tribal; Census Tracts; United States; Covariates;
Copyright: © 2025 by Ford. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
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APA Style
Ford, G. S. (2024). The U.S. Broadband Tribal Gap: An Empirical Evaluation. Journal of Regional Economics, 3(1), 16. doi:10.58567/jre03010005
ACS Style
Ford, G. S. The U.S. Broadband Tribal Gap: An Empirical Evaluation. Journal of Regional Economics, 2024, 3, 16. doi:10.58567/jre03010005
AMA Style
Ford G S. The U.S. Broadband Tribal Gap: An Empirical Evaluation. Journal of Regional Economics; 2024, 3(1):16. doi:10.58567/jre03010005
Chicago/Turabian Style
Ford, George S. 2024. "The U.S. Broadband Tribal Gap: An Empirical Evaluation" Journal of Regional Economics 3, no.1:16. doi:10.58567/jre03010005

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ACS Style
Ford, G. S. The U.S. Broadband Tribal Gap: An Empirical Evaluation. Journal of Regional Economics, 2024, 3, 16. doi:10.58567/jre03010005
AMA Style
Ford G S. The U.S. Broadband Tribal Gap: An Empirical Evaluation. Journal of Regional Economics; 2024, 3(1):16. doi:10.58567/jre03010005
Chicago/Turabian Style
Ford, George S. 2024. "The U.S. Broadband Tribal Gap: An Empirical Evaluation" Journal of Regional Economics 3, no.1:16. doi:10.58567/jre03010005
APA style
Ford, G. S. (2024). The U.S. Broadband Tribal Gap: An Empirical Evaluation. Journal of Regional Economics, 3(1), 16. doi:10.58567/jre03010005

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References

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