Abstract
The adoption of information and communication technology (ICT), such as the Internet, smartphones, and tablets, has increased markedly. The present study examines how this adoption affects objective and subjective well-being inequality, using the 2018 China Family Panel Studies data. We employ the Gini coefficient to measure objective well-being inequality indicators (income inequality and consumption inequality) and the variance to measure subjective well-being inequality indicators (happiness inequality and life-satisfaction inequality). The two-stage residual inclusion approach is utilized to address the endogeneity of ICT adoption. The results show that ICT adoption significantly lowers income and consumption inequality. The findings for subjective well-being are mixed: ICT adoption reduces happiness inequality, whereas it does not influence life-satisfaction inequality. Furthermore, income inequality does not influence subjective well-being; however, consumption inequality is positively associated with happiness inequality.
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Data availability
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, Hongyun Zheng, upon reasonable request.
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Hongyun Zheng gratefully acknowledges the financial support from the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2023JGLW02; 2662022JGQD006).
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Ma, W., Vatsa, P., Zheng, H. et al. Does Adoption of Information and Communication Technology Reduce Objective and Subjective Well-Being Inequality? Evidence from China. Soc Indic Res 169, 55–77 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-023-03154-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-023-03154-1