International: MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 114 Document Number: D11015
Notes:
Chapter in NBER book: Adam B. Jaffe, Josh Lerner and Scott Stern (eds.), Innovation policy and the economy, volume 6, pages 67-90., Author examines sources of consumer surplus that are likely to exist due to the types of sites being used online and points to research that quantifies the consumer gains from use of the Internet. ... Reports that the Internet increases price competition so that consumers pay less for products and improves daily life by increasing the variety, quality and availability of products and information. These gains are particularly useful to people with high transactions costs (busy, rural) and uninformed people. By allowing consumers in rural or sparsely populated areas to share tastes which might be rare in the local population, it particularly benefits consumers who might have more difficulty physically interacting with people of their tastes.
Rose, David C. (author), Sutherland, William J. (author), Parker, Caroline (author), Lobley, Matt (author), Winter, Michael (author), Morris, Carol (author), Twining, Susan (author), foulkes, Charles F. (author), Amano, Tatsuya (author), and Dicks, Lynn V. (author)
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
2016-11
Published:
United Kingdom
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 159 Document Number: D07672
Via online UI subscription, Recent research suggests that Internet usage can positively influence social capital in
rural communities by fostering avenues for voluntary participation and creating social
networks. Most of this research has examined whether Internet use is associated
with participation in local organizations and social networks but not the means by
which residents use the technology to learn about local activities. To address this
gap in the literature, the authors use a mixed-methods approach in an isolated rural
region of the western United States to evaluate how residents use their connections
to maintain local social networks and learn about local community events and
organizations. The authors show that Internet usage can play an important role in
building social capital in rural communities, thus extending the systemic model of rural
voluntary participation and community attachment. Implications for rural community
development are addressed.
