Who Gets Rich from Innovation? Evidence from Broadband Expansion on the Colville Reservation

Do you know about the Colville Reservation in Washington state? Few do except locals, or those familiar with American Indian affairs. What Colville can teach the rest of the nation stems from its recent experience with broadband, which illustrates a great deal about who really gains from technological innovation.

A federal report found that in 2013, one third of those living on tribal lands lacked broadband access. A federal program was introduced, and the staggered expansion allows us to see the effects of broadband access on per-capita income, participation in the labor market, and employment rates. In 2026 Thomas Stratmann and Pradyot Sharma released new research that found income per person rose by $5,500 relative to reservations nearby. Employment rates and labor force participation also rose, 6.1 percentage points and 10.3 percentage points, respectively.

None of this implies that every government infrastructure project creates comparable value, or that public investment is the best way to expand access. The point is narrower: when people gain access to a genuinely valuable innovation, most of the resulting gains accrue to those who use it rather than those who provide it.

Once these communities were granted licenses for wireless data service, connectedness brought opportunity. Better information facilitated job searches and promoted better job matches. Lower prices and lower transaction costs extended household budgets and improved business margins just as e-commerce has elsewhere. As a result, costs fell.

Who gained, and how much, when broadband came to town?

In one sense, it’s almost the wrong question. The average cost of a US broadband internet package is between $35 and $150 per month. Colville gives us a rough indication of the economic value of that service — to consumers rather than providers.

Asked another way, how much would you need to be paid to never have internet access again? Students in my principles of economics course routinely claim…