IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/intsec/v18y2023i2p193-210.html

The impact of guardian's usage of the Internet on children's cognitive skills

Author

Listed:
  • Guangsu Zhou
  • Keyi Guo

Abstract

In the digital age, the internet has become an essential source of information gathering and maintains a network of social contact. In this paper, we use microdata from the China Family Panel Studies to examine the effects of guardian's internet use on teenager's cognitive skills. Using mobile internet users and base station density as instruments, we found that guardian's internet use had a significant impact on teenager's cognitive abilities as measured by math and verbal tests. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the impact is more substantial for guardians in rural areas and less‐educated guardians. Further exploration of the mechanism shows that internet usage affects cognitive skills through monetary investment, time investment, and parental environment. The result suggests that promoting internet usage for less educated families in rural areas can potentially improve children's academic performance and decrease inequality across regions and generations.

Suggested Citation

  • Guangsu Zhou & Keyi Guo, 2023. "The impact of guardian's usage of the Internet on children's cognitive skills," International Studies of Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(2), pages 193-210, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:intsec:v:18:y:2023:i:2:p:193-210
    DOI: 10.1002/ise3.34
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/ise3.34
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/ise3.34?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anderson, Michael L., 2008. "Multiple Inference and Gender Differences in the Effects of Early Intervention: A Reevaluation of the Abecedarian, Perry Preschool, and Early Training Projects," Journal of the American Statistical Association, American Statistical Association, vol. 103(484), pages 1481-1495.
    2. David Deming, 2009. "Early Childhood Intervention and Life-Cycle Skill Development: Evidence from Head Start," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(3), pages 111-134, July.
    3. Zhang, Haochen & Qin, Xuezheng & Zhou, Jiantao, 2020. "Do tiger moms raise superior kids? The impact of parenting style on adolescent human capital formation in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    4. Wei Jiang, 2017. "Have Instrumental Variables Brought Us Closer to the Truth," The Review of Corporate Finance Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 6(2), pages 127-140.
    5. Keefer, Philip & Khemani, Stuti, 2014. "Mass media and public education: The effects of access to community radio in Benin," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 57-72.
    6. Raquel Bernal & Michael P. Keane, 2011. "Child Care Choices and Children's Cognitive Achievement: The Case of Single Mothers," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 29(3), pages 459-512.
    7. Ariga, Kenn & Brunello, Giorgio, 2007. "Does Secondary School Tracking Affect Performance? Evidence from IALS," IZA Discussion Papers 2643, IZA Network @ LISER.
    8. Julian Cristia & Pablo Ibarrarán & Santiago Cueto & Ana Santiago & Eugenio Severín, 2017. "Technology and Child Development: Evidence from the One Laptop per Child Program," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 9(3), pages 295-320, July.
    9. Philippe Belley & Lance Lochner, 2007. "The Changing Role of Family Income and Ability in Determining Educational Achievement," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 1(1), pages 37-89.
    10. A. Belloni & D. Chen & V. Chernozhukov & C. Hansen, 2012. "Sparse Models and Methods for Optimal Instruments With an Application to Eminent Domain," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 80(6), pages 2369-2429, November.
    11. Deborah A. Cobb-Clark & Nicolás Salamanca & Anna Zhu, 2020. "Correction to: Parenting style as an investment in human development," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 33(4), pages 1523-1524, October.
    12. James J. Heckman & Dimitriy V. Masterov, 2007. "The Productivity Argument for Investing in Young Children," Review of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 29(3), pages 446-493.
    13. Ofer Malamud & Cristian Pop-Eleches, 2011. "Home Computer Use and the Development of Human Capital," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 126(2), pages 987-1027.
    14. Yang, Juan & Zhao, Xinhui, 2020. "Parenting styles and children’s academic performance: Evidence from middle schools in China," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    15. Choi, Changkyu & Hoon Yi, Myung, 2009. "The effect of the Internet on economic growth: Evidence from cross-country panel data," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 105(1), pages 39-41, October.
    16. Dollar, David, 2007. "Poverty, inequality, and social disparities during China's economic reform," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4253, The World Bank.
    17. Maria Humlum, 2011. "Timing of family income, borrowing constraints, and child achievement," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 24(3), pages 979-1004, July.
    18. Teodora Boneva & Christopher Rauh, 2018. "Parental Beliefs about Returns to Educational Investments—The Later the Better?," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 16(6), pages 1669-1711.
    19. Bedi, Arjun S. & Garg, Ashish, 2000. "The effectiveness of private versus public schools: the case of Indonesia," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(2), pages 463-494, April.
    20. Petra E. Todd & Kenneth I. Wolpin, 2003. "On The Specification and Estimation of The Production Function for Cognitive Achievement," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(485), pages 3-33, February.
    21. Giorgio Brunello & Daniele Checchi, 2007. "Does school tracking affect equality of opportunity? New international evidence [‘Educational opportunities and the role of institutions’]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 22(52), pages 782-861.
    22. Deng, Lanfang & Tong, Tingting, 2020. "Parenting style and the development of noncognitive ability in children," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    23. Rasheda Khanam & Son Nghiem, 2016. "Family Income and Child Cognitive and Noncognitive Development in Australia: Does Money Matter?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 53(3), pages 597-621, June.
    24. Michael R. Rahm & Wallace E. Huffman, 1984. "The Adoption of Reduced Tillage: The Role of Human Capital and Other Variables," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 66(4), pages 405-413.
    25. Rosemary Elkins & Stefanie Schurer, 2020. "Exploring the role of parental engagement in non-cognitive skill development over the lifecourse," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 33(3), pages 957-1004, July.
    26. Derksen, Laura & Michaud-Leclerc, Catherine & Souza, Pedro C.L., 2022. "Restricted access: How the internet can be used to promote reading and learning," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    27. George R. G. Clarke & Scott J. Wallsten, 2006. "Has the Internet Increased Trade? Developed and Developing Country Evidence," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 44(3), pages 465-484, July.
    28. Mo, Di & Bai, Yu & Shi, Yaojiang & Abbey, Cody & Zhang, Linxiu & Rozelle, Scott & Loyalka, Prashant, 2020. "Institutions, implementation, and program effectiveness: Evidence from a randomized evaluation of computer-assisted learning in rural China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Biroli, Pietro & Di Girolamo, Amalia & Sorrenti, Giuseppe & Totarelli, Maddalena, 2025. "Talent Is Everywhere, Opportunity Is Not: Online Role Model Mentoring and Students’ Aspirations," IZA Discussion Papers 18325, IZA Network @ LISER.
    2. Wang, Haining & Cheng, Zhiming & Smyth, Russell, 2022. "Parental misbeliefs and household investment in children's education," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    3. Beam, Emily A. & Mukherjee, Priya & Navarro-Sola, Laia, 2022. "Lowering Barriers to Remote Education: Experimental Impacts on Parental Responses and Learning," IZA Discussion Papers 15596, IZA Network @ LISER.
    4. Heckman, James J. & Raut, Lakshmi K., 2016. "Intergenerational long-term effects of preschool-structural estimates from a discrete dynamic programming model," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 191(1), pages 164-175.
    5. Deng, Lanfang & Tong, Tingting, 2020. "Parenting style and the development of noncognitive ability in children," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    6. Xiong, Xianfang & Deng, Lanfang & Li, Hongyi, 2020. "Is winning at the start important: Early childhood family cognitive stimulation and child development," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    7. Arenas-Arroyo, Esther & Schmidpeter, Bernhard, 2022. "Spillover effects of immigration policies on children's human capital," Ruhr Economic Papers 974, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    8. Derksen, Laura & Leclerc, Catherine Michaud & Souza, Pedro CL, 2019. "Searching for Answers : The Impact of Student Access to Wikipedia," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 1236, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    9. Mari, Gabriele & Keizer, Renske, 2020. "Families of Austerity: Welfare Cuts and Family Stress in Britain," SocArXiv vdej8, Center for Open Science.
    10. Armin Falk & Fabian Kosse & Pia Pinger, 2026. "Mentoring and Schooling Decisions: Causal Evidence," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 134(1), pages 366-396.
    11. Chen, Yefeng & Yang, Wenyuan & Luo, Gansong & Luo, Jun, 2024. "Choosing tournament for children: Parenting style and information intervention," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    12. Hull, Marie C. & Duch, Katherine, 2017. "One-To-One Technology and Student Outcomes," IZA Discussion Papers 10886, IZA Network @ LISER.
    13. Blau, David M. & Haskell, Nancy L. & Haurin, Donald R., 2019. "Are housing characteristics experienced by children associated with their outcomes as young adults?," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C).
    14. Rodney J. Andrews & Paul Jargowsky & Kristin Kuhne, 2012. "The Effects of Texas's Targeted Pre-Kindergarten Program on Academic Performance," NBER Working Papers 18598, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Miguel Urquiola, 2015. "Progress and challenges in achieving an evidence-based education policy in Latin America and the Caribbean," Latin American Economic Review, Springer;Centro de Investigaciòn y Docencia Económica (CIDE), vol. 24(1), pages 1-30, December.
    16. Kirabo Jackson & Alexey Makarin, 2018. "Can Online Off-the-Shelf Lessons Improve Student Outcomes? Evidence from a Field Experiment," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 10(3), pages 226-254, August.
    17. David J. Deming, 2022. "Four Facts about Human Capital," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 36(3), pages 75-102, Summer.
    18. Hong, Junjie & Liu, Wanlin & Zhang, Qing, 2024. "Closing the digital divide: The impact of teachers’ ICT use on student achievement in China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(3), pages 697-713.
    19. Victoria Baranov & Sonia Bhalotra & Pietro Biroli & Joanna Maselko, 2017. "Maternal Depression, Women’s Empowerment, and Parental Investment: Evidence from a Large Randomized Control Trial," CHILD Working Papers Series 60 JEL Classification: I1, Centre for Household, Income, Labour and Demographic Economics (CHILD) - CCA.
    20. Herbst, Chris M., 2013. "The impact of non-parental child care on child development: Evidence from the summer participation “dip”," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 86-105.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:intsec:v:18:y:2023:i:2:p:193-210. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.