TY - BOOK

T1 - Essays on the impact of information communication technologies on human capital

AU - Mao, Likun

PY - 2019

Y1 - 2019

N2 - This thesis consists of three essays on the impact of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) on cognitive, noncognitive and educational outcomes. Based on large social survey datasets, I find evidence of positive impacts of ICT use on subsequent developmental outcomes.Chapter Two draws on the Longitudinal Study of Young People inEngland (LSYPE) data where I estimate the causal effect of personalcomputer usage by teenagers on their university attendance. A varietyof matching methods aimed at minimising the differences of covariatesbetween treated and control teenagers are applied, and show that accessto personal laptop or computer increases the likelihood of universityattendance, but these effects are heterogeneous.Chapter Three uses the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) to examine the impact of electronic games on cognitive and noncognitive skillsin early childhood between the age of three and five. In the sample,around one-third of children did not play electronic games before theage of five. Using mothers’ computer usage at home and new household internet access as instrumental variables, I find no evidence of adetrimental impact of playing electronic games but some evidence ofcognitive benefits.Chapter Four exploits the data from Survey data of Health, Ageing,and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), to examine the effect of internetuse on the cognitive decline of retirees. The casual impact is identifiedby instrumenting current internet use with the past career and occupational information of the retirees who, in these surveys, started theirworking life before the large-scale computerisation at the workplace after the 1980s. The results demonstrate that ICT usage slows the rateof cognitive decline among retirees, and the decline is not primarilydriven by advantaged groups.

AB - This thesis consists of three essays on the impact of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) on cognitive, noncognitive and educational outcomes. Based on large social survey datasets, I find evidence of positive impacts of ICT use on subsequent developmental outcomes.Chapter Two draws on the Longitudinal Study of Young People inEngland (LSYPE) data where I estimate the causal effect of personalcomputer usage by teenagers on their university attendance. A varietyof matching methods aimed at minimising the differences of covariatesbetween treated and control teenagers are applied, and show that accessto personal laptop or computer increases the likelihood of universityattendance, but these effects are heterogeneous.Chapter Three uses the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS) to examine the impact of electronic games on cognitive and noncognitive skillsin early childhood between the age of three and five. In the sample,around one-third of children did not play electronic games before theage of five. Using mothers’ computer usage at home and new household internet access as instrumental variables, I find no evidence of adetrimental impact of playing electronic games but some evidence ofcognitive benefits.Chapter Four exploits the data from Survey data of Health, Ageing,and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), to examine the effect of internetuse on the cognitive decline of retirees. The casual impact is identifiedby instrumenting current internet use with the past career and occupational information of the retirees who, in these surveys, started theirworking life before the large-scale computerisation at the workplace after the 1980s. The results demonstrate that ICT usage slows the rateof cognitive decline among retirees, and the decline is not primarilydriven by advantaged groups.

U2 - 10.17635/lancaster/thesis/775

DO - 10.17635/lancaster/thesis/775

M3 - Doctoral Thesis

PB - Lancaster University

ER -