Give PCs a Chance: Personal Computer Ownership and the Digital Divide in the United States and Great Britain

John Schmitt and Jonathan Wadsworth

CEP Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Performance, LSE

Abstract: This paper summarizes inequalities in PC ownership using data from the US Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE) and the British General Household Survey (GHS) for the period 1984-98. Between 1988 and 1994, British households were more likely than US households to own a personal computer (PC). After 1994, however, US PC ownership rates accelerated rapidly, pushing the United States ahead of Britain. Differences in computer ownership rates are however much larger within the two countries, measured by income, education, age, family status, and race. Both the United States and Britain show large and growing inequality in PC ownership over the 1980s and 1990s. Analysis of ownership patterns of four other household consumer durables suggests that there may be significant limitations to relying solely on the market to eradicate PC inequality quickly.

Keywords: Inequality; Personal Computers (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J6 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2002-04
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Give PC's a chance: personal computer ownership and the digital divide in the United States and Great Britain (2002)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp0526

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