Regional institutions and the urban digital divide

The digital divide represents one of the many facets of socio-economic inequalities, creating a wedge between citizens with the means and ability to reap the benefits related to modern information and communication technologies (ICTs) and those who lack these resources and skills. Among its determinants at the individual and more aggregate level, space-specific factors, including the quality of regional institutions, may affect its geographical breakdown. In this paper we exploit data covering 181 European cities for the period 2008–2017, examining the spatial distribution of the within-city digital divide and how this relates to several local characteristics. In particular, we focus on the interplay between geographic variables and institutional quality at the local level, measured with the University of Gothenburg’s Quality of Governance dataset. Within-city digital divide is computed using individual-level data on European citizens, thus controlling for individual traits that the literature has identified as relevant determinants. These include gender, age, education level, and occupational information, among others. Our paper sheds light both on the individual level determinants of the within-city digital divide, and considers how the uneven spatial distribution of the urban digital divide is related to local institutional, economic and social characteristics. Implications of our work can help inform local policy makers, who increasingly rely on digital solutions in urban policy planning, to consider the existence of a local digital divide among citizens and adopt corrective measures to help achieve digital urban policies’ full potential. Our empirical results document a negative association between the quality of local institutions and the within-city digital divide. Results are robust to a number of alternative specifications, as well as to the use of historical instruments.