寒门再难出贵子?——互联网视角下的代际收入流动研究

Can’t a Poor Family Produce a Good Son Again? —Research on Intergenerational Income Flow from the Perspective of Internet

互联网在人类社会生活中的作用已经超越了一般的生产工具,其不断发展正深刻影响和改变着人类生活方式,那么其对居民代际收入流动性又会产生怎样的影响?本文基于CFPS家庭微观调查数据,以代际收入百分位排序关联系数衡量代际收入流动性,探究了互联网使用对代际收入流动的影响及其作用机制。研究发现,互联网使用可以显著促进代际收入流动,使用工具变量消除内生性,并换用代际收入弹性以及滞后互联网使用数据进行稳健性检验后,结论依然成立。异质性分析表明,互联网使用对代际收入流动的促进效应存在个体差异、城乡差异和区域差异。进一步的研究表明,互联网使用对代际收入流动的促进效应主要通过信息搜寻和社交促进机制实现。

The role of the Internet in human social life has gone beyond the general production tools. Its continuous development is profoundly affecting and changing the way of life of people. Then what impact will it have on the intergenerational income mobility of residents? Based on CFPS household micro-survey data, this paper measures intergenerational income mobility by the correlation coefficient of percentile rank of intergenerational income, and explores the impact of Internet use on intergenerational income mobility and its mechanism. It is found that Internet use can significantly promote intergenerational income mobility. Instrumental variables are used to eliminate endogeneity, and the conclusions are still valid after the robustness test of intergenerational income elasticity and lagging Internet use data. Heterogeneity analysis shows that there are individual differences, urban and rural differences and regional differences in the promotion effect of Internet use on intergenerational income mobility. Further research shows that the promotion effect of Internet use on intergenerational income mobility is mainly realized through information search and social facilitation mechanism.