Does Adoption of Information and Communication Technology Reduce Objective and Subjective Well-Being Inequality? Evidence from China

Wanglin Ma (), Puneet Vatsa, Hongyun Zheng (), Emmanuel Donkor () and Victor Owusu
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Wanglin Ma: Lincoln University
Hongyun Zheng: Huazhong Agricultural University
Emmanuel Donkor: Humboldt University of Berlin

Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, 2023, vol. 169, issue 1, No 3, 55-77

Abstract: Abstract The adoption of information and communication technology (ICT), such as the Internet, smartphones, and tablets, has increased markedly. The present study examines how this adoption affects objective and subjective well-being inequality, using the 2018 China Family Panel Studies data. We employ the Gini coefficient to measure objective well-being inequality indicators (income inequality and consumption inequality) and the variance to measure subjective well-being inequality indicators (happiness inequality and life-satisfaction inequality). The two-stage residual inclusion approach is utilized to address the endogeneity of ICT adoption. The results show that ICT adoption significantly lowers income and consumption inequality. The findings for subjective well-being are mixed: ICT adoption reduces happiness inequality, whereas it does not influence life-satisfaction inequality. Furthermore, income inequality does not influence subjective well-being; however, consumption inequality is positively associated with happiness inequality.

Keywords: ICT adoption; Objective well-being; Subjective well-being; Inequality; RIF estimation; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D63 D83 I31 L86 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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DOI: 10.1007/s11205-023-03154-1

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