互联网使用是否提高了居民的幸福感——基于家庭微观数据的验证

The Effect of Internet Usage on Chinese Residents′ Happiness:Evidence from CFPS

本文基于中国家庭追踪调查数据(CFPS),首次从居民角度检验了互联网使用对幸福感的影响及机制,并且验证了互联网使用效果的个体差异性。在收入一定的前提下,互联网对居民幸福感的影响主要是总体效果和间接效果:直接对居民的幸福感产生整体性影响,间接降低居民对于物质收入的主观看重程度。结果表明互联网的使用可以促进居民幸福的概率提升2.1个百分点,但降低了收入对于幸福感的正向作用。我们同时利用条件混合过程估计方法和工具变量克服了内生性问题,所得结论依然稳健。进一步的研究验证了居民个体差异性对于互联网作用的影响,发现互联网使用对幸福感的显著效果主要存在于中等收入阶层、中等教育阶层、较少社会网络群体以及大中城市居民中。

This paper investigates the effect of internet usage on Chinese residents＇ happiness, by using micro data from China Family Panel Studies （CFPS）. Related mechanisms and hetero- geneous effects on different groups of people are also explored. The effects of internet usage on happiness include total effect and indirect effect. The results show that internet usage can help to increase individual＇s happiness by 2.1 percentage points in total, but decrease income＇s positive impacts on happiness. This conclusion is consistent when we use CMP and IV estimation to con- quer potential endogenous issues. Further analysis on sub-samples shows that these effects mainly exist in groups with middle-income, middle-education, less social capital, and residence in large and medium-sized cities,