Working Paper: NBER ID: w25312
Authors: Ofer Malamud; Santiago Cueto; Julian Cristia; Diether W. Beuermann
Abstract: This paper provides experimental evidence for the impact of home internet access on a broad range of child outcomes in Peru. We compare children who were randomly chosen to receive laptops with high-speed internet access to (i) those who did not receive laptops and (ii) those who only received laptops without internet. We find that providing free internet access led to improved computer and internet proficiency relative to those without laptops and improved internet proficiency compared to those with laptops only. However, there were no significant effects of internet access on math and reading achievement, cognitive skills, self-esteem, teacher perceptions, or school grades when compared to either group. We explore reasons for the absence of impacts on these key outcomes with survey questions, time-diaries, and computer logs.
Keywords: internet access; child outcomes; Peru; randomized experiment
JEL Codes: C93; I21; I25
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| internet access (L96) | computer and internet proficiency (L86) |
| internet access (L96) | academic achievement (I24) |
| internet access (L96) | cognitive skills (G53) |
| internet access (L96) | self-esteem (I31) |
| internet access (L96) | teacher perceptions (A21) |
| internet access (L96) | math scores (C12) |
| internet access (L96) | reading scores (Y10) |