Internet use and household financial market participation: evidence from China

This paper examines the effect of internet use on household financial market participation and its underlying mechanism. Using data from the 2018 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), we find that households with internet use are 4.7% more likely to participate in financial market investments than those without. The finding remains robust after accounting for endogeneity concerns using the instrumental variables approach and a fresh double machine learning approach. We highlight the phenomenon of ‘digital divide’ that the positive effects of internet use on making financial investments are more substantial among families living in economically developed regions, and families with higher income and education levels than their counterparts. We identify three novel mechanisms through which internet use affects household investment decision-making, namely the internet information mechanism, the internet social mechanism, and the internet enabling mechanism. These findings suggest that expanding digital infrastructure building and increasing the number of internet users are important ways to enhance households’ participation in financial markets.