互联网与农村老年人健康--微观证据与影响机制

Internet and the Health of the Elderly in Rural China--Micro Evidences and Impact Mechanisms

在深入推进数字乡村及智能化为老服务战略的背景下,互联网等智能化信息技术重塑着农村老年人的生活方式,进而影响其健康状况。鉴于此,本文基于中国老年社会追踪调查(CLASS)2016年的微观数据,采用工具变量法估计了互联网使用对农村老年人健康的影响。研究发现,互联网使用能显著改善农村老年人的健康状况,进行稳健性检验后,上述结论依然成立。机制分析结果显示,互联网使用对农村老年人产生了健康激励效应。但值得注意的是,随着使用频率的增加,互联网对于农村老年人的健康存在非线性的影响,部分证据表明过度使用互联网会恶化其健康状况,而且会降低使用传统信息媒介的概率、挤出其睡眠时间且增加虚拟理财产品的持有可能性。

The Internet and other intelligent information technologies reshaped the life style of the elderly in rural areas, thus affecting their health. This paper used the data of CLASS in 2016 to study the impact of Internet use on health of the elderly in rural China. The study found that Internet use can significantly improve the physical and mental health of the elderly in rural China, and the conclusion remains robust after robustness testing and instrumental variable control of endogeneity. Further interaction analysis in this paper showed that the use of Internet by the elderly in rural areas has a health incentive effect. However, there is a nonlinear relationship between the health level of the elderly in rural China and the frequency of Internet use. Using the Internet will squeeze out the sleep time of the elderly in rural China, which is not conducive to their physical and mental health.