Awards

• Winner of Winner of the 2022 Goldsmith Book Prize L.
• Winner of Winner, Goldsmith Book Prize, Goldsmiths, University of London.
• Winner of Winner, Goldsmith Book Prize, Shorenstein Center, Harvard University.

Overview

"Digital information drives participation in politics, the economy, and society. Yet great disparities exist as to which communities have access to the internet. In 2017, only half of residents of formerly industrial Flint, Michigan, had broadband or satellite internet at home, while over 90 percent of those in thriving Sunnyvale, California, in Silicon Valley, were connected. More recently, Covid-19 laid bare these persistent digital divides in both urban and rural communities, illustrating that broadband use is a fundamental resource for the future of opportunity in communities. While previous studies have examined the impacts of broadband infrastructure, they have indicated little about the extent to which local populations can afford and use the technology. Moreover, there has been limited scientific evidence on how broadband adoption matters for collective benefits. Including new data on broadband subscriptions from 2000-2017, and comprehensive analysis for U.S. states, counties, metros, cities, and neighborhoods, Choosing the Future argues that broadband use in the population is a form of digital human capital that benefits communities as well as individuals. Broadband has a causal impact across all types of communities--for economic prosperity, growth, income, employment, and policy innovation. Yet there are urban neighborhoods and rural counties where as little as one-quarter of the population has a broadband subscription, even when mobile is included. As we build ""smart"" cities and communities, as economies and jobs continue to experience rapid change, and as more information and services migrate online, it is communities with widespread broadband use that will be best positioned for inclusive innovation, with the digital human capital to thrive."

Full Product Details

9780197585764

Table of Contents

Reviews

"""The United States is embarking on a major transformation through infrastructure. The timely research in this volume on broadband access, inclusive innovation, smart cities, and the future of work will comprise a vital source of knowledge and direction for policy makers, researchers, and those building our future. With their usual rigorous attention to detail, the authors explain in depth how inclusive broadband and digital human capital comprise essential dimensions of infrastructure for economic wellbeing."" -- Jane Fountain, University of Massachusetts Amherst ""This data-intensive and rigorously evidence-based book conducts a forensic examination of the digital drivers of innovation and inequality in communities across the US over 20 years. Given the growing need for digital innovationDLand the spiralling importance of digital inequalityDLduring the pandemic, it could not be more timely. Society needs this book!"" -- Helen Margetts, Oxford Internet Institute ""Choosing the Future intelligently grapples with the complicated intersections of technology, opportunity, and innovation. It's a timely book about subjects that will occupy us for the duration of the 21st century. Giving life to the phrase human capital, the authors combine data on broadband use with on-the-ground stories to begin to explain where inequality has been and is headed in the future. I highly recommend this to social planners, scholars, and policymakers trying to come up with the tools to solve the most pressing problems of work, education, and community."" -- Sharon Strover, The University of Texas at Austin ""The impact of technology on inequality is one of the most important challenges facing the US. In this book, Mossberger, Tolbert, and LaCombe compile extraordinary broadband data over nearly two decades to show wide and persistent inequalities. Their analysis is a tour de force that should be read by those in government, business, and academia. Their recommendations on ways to reduce inequality should be taken seriously by all."" -- Darrell West, Brookings Institution"

The United States is embarking on a major transformation through infrastructure. The timely research in this volume on broadband access, inclusive innovation, smart cities, and the future of work will comprise a vital source of knowledge and direction for policy makers, researchers, and those building our future. With their usual rigorous attention to detail, the authors explain in depth how inclusive broadband and digital human capital comprise essential dimensions of infrastructure for economic wellbeing. * Jane Fountain, University of Massachusetts Amherst * This data-intensive and rigorously evidence-based book conducts a forensic examination of the digital drivers of innovation and inequality in communities across the US over 20 years. Given the growing need for digital innovation-and the spiralling importance of digital inequality-during the pandemic, it could not be more timely. Society needs this book! * Helen Margetts, Oxford Internet Institute * Choosing the Future intelligently grapples with the complicated intersections of technology, opportunity, and innovation. It's a timely book about subjects that will occupy us for the duration of the 21st century. Giving life to the phrase human capital, the authors combine data on broadband use with on-the-ground stories to begin to explain where inequality has been and is headed in the future. I highly recommend this to social planners, scholars, and policymakers trying to come up with the tools to solve the most pressing problems of work, education, and community. * Sharon Strover, The University of Texas at Austin * The impact of technology on inequality is one of the most important challenges facing the US. In this book, Mossberger, Tolbert, and LaCombe compile extraordinary broadband data over nearly two decades to show wide and persistent inequalities. Their analysis is a tour de force that should be read by those in government, business, and academia. Their recommendations on ways to reduce inequality should be taken seriously by all. * Darrell West, Brookings Institution *

The United States is embarking on a major transformation through infrastructure. The timely research in this volume on broadband access, inclusive innovation, smart cities, and the future of work will comprise a vital source of knowledge and direction for policy makers, researchers, and those building our future. With their usual rigorous attention to detail, the authors explain in depth how inclusive broadband and digital human capital comprise essential dimensions of infrastructure for economic wellbeing. -- Jane Fountain, University of Massachusetts Amherst This data-intensive and rigorously evidence-based book conducts a forensic examination of the digital drivers of innovation and inequality in communities across the US over 20 years. Given the growing need for digital innovationDLand the spiralling importance of digital inequalityDLduring the pandemic, it could not be more timely. Society needs this book! -- Helen Margetts, Oxford Internet Institute Choosing the Future intelligently grapples with the complicated intersections of technology, opportunity, and innovation. It's a timely book about subjects that will occupy us for the duration of the 21st century. Giving life to the phrase human capital, the authors combine data on broadband use with on-the-ground stories to begin to explain where inequality has been and is headed in the future. I highly recommend this to social planners, scholars, and policymakers trying to come up with the tools to solve the most pressing problems of work, education, and community. -- Sharon Strover, The University of Texas at Austin The impact of technology on inequality is one of the most important challenges facing the US. In this book, Mossberger, Tolbert, and LaCombe compile extraordinary broadband data over nearly two decades to show wide and persistent inequalities. Their analysis is a tour de force that should be read by those in government, business, and academia. Their recommendations on ways to reduce inequality should be taken seriously by all. -- Darrell West, Brookings Institution

Author Information

Karen Mossberger is the Frank and June Sackton Professor in the School of Public Affairs at Arizona State University, and director of the Center on Technology, Data and Society. Her research includes digital inequality, digital government, and impacts of technology use, for individuals and communities. In other work she has examined issues in urban policy, local governance, and policy innovation. Her co-authored and edited books on technology include Digital Cities: The Internet and the Geography of Opportunity, Digital Citizenship: The Internet, Society, and Participation, Virtual Inequality: Beyond the Digital Divide, and Transforming Everything? Evaluating Broadband's Impacts Across Policy Areas (Oxford 2021). She is an elected fellow in the National Academy of Public Administration. Caroline J. Tolbert is the Lowell C. Battershell University Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the University of Iowa. Her work is driven by a theoretical and normative interest in strengthening American democracy and fostering inclusive economic growth. Her research and teaching weaves together a concern with diversity and inequality, elections and representation, technology policy and local economic development, subnational politics and policy, and data science. She is the coauthor of Accessible Elections: How the States can Help Americans Vote (Oxford, 2020) on absentee/mail voting, early voting, and same-day registration. She has coauthored three books on the Internet and politics/policy, including Digital Cities: The Internet and the Geography of Opportunity, Digital Citizenship: The Internet, Society, and Participation, and Virtual Inequality: Beyond the Digital Divide. Her research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, and numerous private foundations. Scott J. LaCombe is an Assistant Professor of Government and Statistical and Data Sciences at Smith College. His research focuses on public policy and the politics of US states. He particularly focuses on the spread of public policies across US states and how these adoption decisions are structured by state political institutions. His research also focuses on using big data to answer questions about subnational governments, and he is part of several projects to collect data on tens of thousands of state policy adoptions including the State Policy Innovation and Diffusion Dataset, and he has published in Policy Studies Journal, Political Research Quarterly, and State Politics and Policy Quarterly.

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