Information technologies and subjective well-being: Does the internet raise material aspirations?

Steffen Lohmann

No 169, University of Göttingen Working Papers in Economics from University of Goettingen, Department of Economics

Abstract: This paper examines whether access to modern information technologies, in particular the internet, has an impact on invididual positionality - meaning the degree to which subjective well-being is affected by income relative to others rather than absolute income. We provide empirical evidence that positionality and internet access are intertwined. Exploiting variation over time in a panel of European households, we find stated material aspirations to be significantly positively related to computer access in areas with advanced internet infrastructure. Furthermore, we report cross-sectional evidence from the World Values Survey suggesting an indirect negative effect of internet access on subjective well-being since people who regularly use the internet as a source of information derive less satisfaction from income. Together, the empirical findings highlight the importance of information sets for how individuals evaluate own living conditions relative to others and suggests a vital role for informational globalisation to affect positionality.

Keywords: subjective well-being; positionality; relative income; informational globalisation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D03 I31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur, nep-hap and nep-ict
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/79222/1/757203671.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: Information technologies and subjective well-being: does the Internet raise material aspirations? (2015)
Working Paper: Information technologies and subjective well-being: Does the internet raise material aspirations? (2013)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:cegedp:169

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