Implementation of BTOP Funding for Public Computing Centers: Perspectives from Principal-Agent Theory

This paper seeks to perform an assessment of the current state of implementation of BTOP- funded public computing center projects. Using newly available data on BTOP funded PCC projects and correlating them with socioeconomic and geographic data derived from the US census and the FCC, we seek to match actual usage statistics at BTOP-funded PCCs against the predicted demand from an empirical model that used socioeconomic data such as the poverty level, average income, average household size of the region, and geographic data such as population and rural ratio. Finally, we will assess progress towards completion of PCC projects by state, type of grantee, type of project, and funding amount.