The Main Source of Information About the Resident is

Introduction

Individuals always brand decisions nether uncertain atmospheric condition. Doubtfulness brings risks. Individuals’ perceptions and attitudes toward risks are important factors that touch on their decision-making behaviors. Risk attitudes shape a wide range of residents’ decisions such as savings, consumption, investment, labor supply, insurance, health services buy, and many other behaviors (Banks et al., 2019). Although economical theory assumes that individuals’ hazard attitudes do not change with time, many studies take found testify for inside-private variation in risk attitudes over fourth dimension and bear witness that changes in living and economic circumstances can as well affect risk attitudes (Jung and Treibich, 2015; Cho et al., 2018).

Studying the determinants of risk attitudes is conducive to the agreement of individuals’ decision-making behaviors. Theoretically, hazard attitudes are straight affected by the quantity and quality of information that individuals can acquire (Tausch and Zumbuehl, 2018). The acquisition of information depends on various information sources, such as the Internet, Television, Newspapers, Magazines, and Social networks. With the continuous improvement of the advice infrastructure and the popularization of intelligent devices, China has go the earth’due south largest Internet user (Wang and Li, 2012). At that place are 904 million ‘‘netizens’’ in Communist china as of March 2020.¹
The state’south Internet economy reached 4.4 trillion U.s.a. dollars in 2019 and the Cyberspace-fueled Gdp growth accounted for 67.9% of China’southward total GDP increase in 2019. The Cyberspace has fundamentally changed Chinese daily life. As well, residents’ adventure attitudes are significantly influenced past the rapid growth of Cyberspace use in China. Because the popularization of Internet use has expanded the information conquering sources for residents, increased the density of information, and improved the quality of data, the information acquisition revolution has not only changed various aspects of residents’ life and work, but also had a profound impact on residents’ concepts.

Yet despite the growing importance of Internet use in our daily lives, piddling attention has been paid to analyzing its influence on residents’ concepts. To the best of our cognition, the impact of Cyberspace use on the risk attitudes of residents remains understudied. As one of the most of import factors affecting residents’ conclusion-making behaviors, risk attitudes not only play a role at the micro level, but also are closely linked with the innovation ability of the whole society at the macro level. Improving the run a risk preference of the whole society is conductive to stimulating the innovation vitality of our guild. Therefore, exploring the influencing factors of residents’ risk attitudes is of slap-up significance to Red china’s development strategy of building an innovative land in the future. The aim of this study is to appraise the impact of Internet use on residents’ take a chance attitudes in China. We extend the literature in four ways. First, we provide the get-go study investigating the influence of Cyberspace use on residents’ risk attitudes. Although a number of studies have examined the factors that affect residents’ chance attitudes, most of them focused on the relationship between fixed individual characteristics and risk attitudes, ignoring the affect of Internet utilize. Given that China has go the world’s largest Internet user and the data acquisition source of many residents has inverse significantly. It is important to analyze the significant bear on of Cyberspace employ. 2nd, we utilise ii dissimilar methods: the subjective and objective methods to measure residents’ risk attitudes, which produce a more comprehensive view of the connection between Internet use and run a risk attitudes. Tertiary, past analyzing not only the specific activities but also the reasons for Internet use and the personal characteristics of Net users, we provide a valuable perspective to sympathise the heterogenous impacts of Internet apply on residents’ risk attitudes. 4th, several methods are used to examine the issue of endogeneity in our models, which provide a compelling determination that Internet utilize has an important impact on residents’ gamble attitudes.

The rest of this paper is organized as follows. Department “Literature Review” reviews the relevant literature. Department “Data and Methods” describes the data, variables, and methods. Section “Empirical Results” shows the empirical results. Department “Heterogeneity Assay” provides the heterogeneity analysis. Section “Robustness Analysis” is the robustness analysis. Section “Conclusion and Discussion” concludes.

Literature Review

One Important Open Question Is How to Measure out Risk Attitudes

Previous studies measure risk attitudes using survey questions, and construct risk attitudes variables by using the respondents’ answers to relevant questions (Gary and Angelino, 2012; Banks et al., 2019), which subjectively evaluates residents’ risk attitudes. The residents’ risk attitudes derived from this method has been proved to accept a proficient ability to explain and predict residents’ risk behaviors (Guiso and Paiella, 2008). Only a 2d question is whether survey questions are really a practiced method for measuring hazard attitudes. Because for respondent survey questions are not incentive compatible, some scholars are skeptical about whether self-reported personal attitudes and traits are behaviorally meaningful (Dohmen et al., 2011). Various factors, including cocky-serving biases, inattention, and strategic motives could cause respondents to misconstrue their reported risk attitudes (Camerer and Hogarth, 1999). So, given all these limitations, another experimental studies, which measure chance attitudes with chance-taking behaviors, such every bit financial investment. These studies also construct residents’ gamble attitudes variables through questionnaire information, but they construct risk attitudes variables based on the survey data of residents’ participation in financial markets or holding of take chances assets (Cocco, 2005; Dohmen et al., 2011). This method evaluates the objective gamble attitudes of residents from the perspective of observing objective beliefs. This paper applies the two methods to measure residents’ subjective and objective hazard attitudes.

Some studies accept constitute that wealth (Haliassos and Bertaut, 1995), social capital letter (Wossen et al., 2015), life event shocks, and task or health changes (Sahm, 2012; Banks et al., 2019) all significantly affected residents’ risk attitudes. According to other studies focusing on the relationship betwixt hazard attitudes and individual characteristics, residents’ risk attitudes are also significantly related to their individual characteristics, such as historic period (Gollier, 2002), gender (Dohmen et al., 2011), personality (Bucciol and Zarri, 2017), cerebral ability (Bonsang and Dohmen, 2015), education (Kapteyn and Teppa, 2011; Outreville, 2013), marital status (Arrondel and Lefebvre, 2001), wellness status (Hammitt et al., 2009), language (Chen, 2013), etc.

Besides, the popularization of Internet employ in China has enhanced the ability of residents to larn information. Their production and operating data and technical knowledge. The information can reduce diverse uncertainties in their decision-making processes, and thus alleviating their bourgeois hazard disfavor attitudes (Ghadim et al., 2005). Yet despite the growing importance of Net utilise, in well-nigh of the existing studies, at that place is no directly assay of the relationship between Cyberspace utilise and risk attitudes.

Residents’ risk attitudes are direct affected by the information they get (Wijayaratna and Dixit, 2016) and their “information status.” Every bit a new information technology expanding in Cathay, the Internet obviously plays an increasingly of import role in affecting residents’ adventure attitudes. The different amount of information caused may atomic number 82 to people’s different cognitions of specific things. For example, in the outbreak of novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) at the cease of 2019, we can observe that the differences in the knowledge of COVID-19 lead to people’s different risk attitudes to the epidemic (Honarvar et al., 2020), which caused people’s different protective measures to the virus (cull to wear a mask or not; comply with the segregation policy or not). Some other literature also found that the different information set constraints people confront when making decisions reflect people’due south unlike “information status”: people usually adopt risk when facing small probability events, but avoid risk when facing high probability events (Fenghua, 2013). The population and awarding of it represented by the Net have significantly changed the source of residents’ data acquisition and improved their ability of information conquering. Internet use has impacted residents’ risk attitudes by innovating the data acquisition mode.

Given the importance of Net use to residents’ risk attitudes, information technology is essential to analyze and identify its impact. This newspaper attempts to brand some contributions in the following aspects. Offset, nosotros apply microdata to measure the subjective and objective take a chance attitudes of residents. Through empirical analysis, we verify the influence of Internet use on residents’ subjective and objective chance attitudes. Nosotros expand the inquiry on the influencing factors of residents’ take a chance attitudes. Secondly, based on the results of the empirical analysis, this paper further discusses the heterogeneity of the impacts of Cyberspace utilize. The residents with dissimilar purposes for using the Internet and different personal characteristics will exist afflicted differently. This study provides a better agreement of the touch on of Cyberspace utilize on residents’ ideologies.

Data and Methods

Data

The microdata we use in this paper are from the 2014, 2016, and 2018 CFPS (China Family Panel Studies) database. CFPS is administered by the Constitute of Social Science Survey in Peking University. This database survey sample covers 25 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities (except Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, Xinjiang, Tibet, Qinghai, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, and Hainan) that represent 95% of the Chinese population. The database includes the social and economic information of individuals and families, and has detailed data of family economic activities, social contacts, demographic statistics, etc. Based on the concerns of this paper, through the consolidation of relevant data, 32,584 data samples were obtained.

Variables

This newspaper sets residents’ risk attitudes as the dependent variable. According to the existing research, residents’ risk attitudes can be classified into subjective risk attitudes and objective risk attitudes (Hanna and Chen, 1997). Considering the robustness of the empirical analysis, we also use two methods to measure residents’ risk attitudes. Firstly, based on the response options data in the risk test questionnaire of “Part Q. Behavior and Mental Status” in CFPS 2018, we construct an ordered variable for subjective risk attitudes. According to the degree of risk preference shown in the responses of the surveyed residents, the subjective risk attitudes are measured on a half dozen-point scale. As the value increases, the degree of risk preference increases. Secondly, we utilize whether the sample residents hold risky assets to represent their objective risk attitudes. The risky avails here include stocks, bonds, funds, etc. Objective adventure attitudes are defined equally a dummy variable that equals 1 if the residents agree risky assets, 0 otherwise.

The independent variable is Net use. Since the purpose of this paper is to analyze the impacts of Cyberspace utilize on residents’ gamble attitudes regarding the Internet as a new information acquisition technology, the measurement of Internet employ is based on the answers to the following question: “How importance is Cyberspace as your access to information?” The response options in the questionnaire range from “Very not important = 1” to “Very important = five.” The values from i to v correspond the increasing importance of the Internet as an access to information. In addition, in the section of robustness assay, this paper also uses the answers to questions such every bit “Whether practice you lot utilise mobile Net?” and “Whether do yous use mobile phone?” to construct culling variables of Cyberspace use for robustness assay.

In real life, unlike people accept different purposes for using the Internet. It is thus very natural that we ask the post-obit question: will the different uses of the Cyberspace take unlike impacts on residents’ risk attitudes? If Internet utilize can touch the chance attitudes by innovating their admission to information, then a reasonable expectation is that different ways of using the Net will take different impacts on the risk attitudes. Bargh and McKenna (2004) have found that the bear on of the Internet on users depends on how they employ the Cyberspace. This paper measures the reasons for Internet use based on the post-obit questions: “How important to you in terms of written report/piece of work/socializing/entertainment/commercial related activities while using the Internet?” on a scale from “1 = very unimportant, five = very important.” This variable is measured on a 5-point scale.

In guild to command the influence of other information sources, this paper also uses the answers to the other related questions to construct three traditional information source variables. These related questions in the questionnaire are “How importance is TV/Newspaper and Magazines/From other people as your admission to information?” The response options in the questionnaire range from “Very non important = 1” to “Very important = 5.” The values from 1 to 5 stand for the increasing importance of these data sources.

Referring to the existing studies, this paper also controls other factors that affect residents’ hazard attitudes, such as private characteristics, including the post-obit: age, gender, wellness status, education, marital status, study habits, social capital letter, etc., and other family unit characteristic variables such equally household size, almanac income per capita, holding value, family debt, etc.

Table 1 reports the statistics of the master variables involved in this newspaper. On average, residents’ evaluation of the importance of information sources in order from large to minor are: TV (the hateful value of the importance score is iii.356), The Internet (3.025), Newspapers and magazines (2.584), and Other people’s messages (two.524). Among them, TV, Newspapers and magazines, and Other people’s messages are traditional data sources. This is consequent with our perception in daily life. Idiot box is one of the most pop household appliances at present, and the Internet also plays an increasingly important office in obtaining information. These 2 points brand Television and the Internet become the most 2 important data sources for residents to obtain information.

Tabular array 1

Estimating Methods

There are two empirical models: the subjective adventure attitudes bear on model and the objective risk attitudes touch model.

The subjective run a risk attitudes variable is an ordinal variable and have vi unlike levels (1-6). Nosotros adopt a Generalized Ordered Logit Model²
to discuss how Internet utilise affects the residents’ subjective risk attitude. The model can be expressed equally follows:

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The objective risk attitudes variable is a binary detached variable. We employ a Logit Model to hash out the bear on of Internet utilise on the objective hazard attitudes of residents. In this model, the value of objective risk attitudes variable is 0 or one. And there is a continuous latent variable backside information technology. This latent variable can exist understood as the net utility of risk investment beliefs to individuals. When the net utility is positive, individuals cull to agree gamble assets; otherwise, individuals will not to hold risk assets. Whether the run a risk avails are held constitutes the observable value of this potential variable. In this paper, the expressions of latent variable and Logit model are every bit follows:

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Addressing the Endogeneity Consequence

Our models may accept endogeneity problems acquired by reverse causation or omitted variables. Firstly, in order to solve the endogeneity problem acquired past the possible reverse causality betwixt the core independent variables and the dependent variable, the core independent variables in our models are lagged in time. Specifically, nosotros chose to use the CFPS survey data in 2016 to construct the Net utilize variable, the reason variables of Internet use and the traditional data source variables while we use the CFPS survey data in 2018 to construct residents’ risk attitudes variables and other dependent variables. The reason for doing this is equally follows. From the 2nd half of year 2014, China’s 4G³
technology began to be commercially available on large scale, which popularized various mobile Cyberspace devices. The inflow of the mobile Cyberspace era makes the information technology, represented past the Internet, begin to exert an overall impact on the work and daily lives of all groups in society. The survey information of the CFPS in 2016 tin basically reflect the initial states of residents’ apply of the Internet as a new source to acquire information after the arrival of the mobile Internet era. That is to say, the Cyberspace employ variable is mainly afflicted by the improvement of the information infrastructure and the popularization of intelligent equipment, but it is not determined past the dependent variable.

Still, endogeneity likewise can stem from the likelihood that some variables may touch on Internet utilise and risk attitudes simultaneously are omitted. In club to further eliminate the questions regarding the endogeneity of the model, post-obit the research of Nie et al. (2017), this newspaper adopts a two stage least squares (2SLS) approach past using i instrument that is related to Net use simply exogenous to residents’ risk attitudes. Nosotros choose the ratio of Internet broadband access terminals⁴
at the provincial or municipality level as the instrumental variable. We use a probit model with Internet employ every bit a binary variable for the showtime stage regression and an ordered probit model for the second phase. We utilize the provisional mixed process (CMP) method proposed past Roodman (2011) to gauge the two-stage model. The beginning stage regression is:

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Empirical Results

Table 2 shows the interpretation results of the General Ordered Logit model with subjective take chances attitudes every bit the dependent variables and the Logit models with the objective risk attitudes as the dependent variables. To provide a visual representation of the specific effect of a one-unit of measurement alter in the independent variable on the dependent variable, the table lists the odds ratios.

Tabular array 2

Impacts of Net Use on Residents’ Subjective Run a risk Attitudes

The regression results show that the subjective take chances attitude variable is significantly positively correlated with the Internet use variable in every chance attitudes group. In columns 1–5, the odds ratios are significance at the 1 or 5% level. This suggests that Internet use, which is a technological innovation of data acquisition source tin indeed improve the residents’ subjective adventure preferences.

As for the three traditional information sources, in that location is no significant correlation betwixt “Boob tube” and residents’ subjective risk attitudes. The odds ratios of “Newspapers and magazines” in most groups are significantly positive at the 5 or 10% significance level while the odds ratios of “other people’s messages” in all groups are non significant. This implies that: (1) Television receiver, every bit a source for residents to obtain information, cannot impact their subjective risk attitudes by improving their power to obtain information. There are two possible reasons. Idiot box programs are unremarkably broadcasted regularly, then residents obtain information passively and cannot actively choose the information they need. This leads to the result that the residents’ sense of information acquisition is non potent. Likewise, in daily life, watching Boob tube is usually regarded as a kind of leisure action. Television receiver has petty touch on on improving the ability of residents to obtain useful information. Therefore, TV plays a very limited role in influencing the residents’ subjective risk attitudes. (2) Newspapers and magazines ordinarily contain a lot of formal data almost politics, the economy, gild, and product. Residents can actively choose the information they need. Therefore, this information source improves the ability of residents to acquire “formal noesis,” which helps to better their awareness of themselves and their situation. In other words, the dependence on this information source improves their risk preference. (3) If residents rely on too much “other people’s messages” to get information, it is not conducive to alleviating their risk aversion attitudes. In daily life, we sometimes accept the experience that when we share our “new ideas” and “new plans” with others, we usually feel “poured by cold water” instead of being encouraged and supported. Therefore, relying also much on others’ messages to obtain data is non conducive to improving their subjective risk preferences.

Regarding the control variables, Gender, Health status, In marriage, Study habits, Social relations, Annual income per capita, and Family debt, etc. all have significant positive correlations with the subjective risk attitudes variables in various significant degrees.

Impacts of Net Use on Residents’ Objective Risk Attitudes

Referring to the methods of relative literatures, this paper uses whether residents hold risky assets to represent the residents’ objective risk attitudes. The risky assets mentioned in this paper are financial assets including stocks, funds, treasury bonds, trust products, and foreign exchange products. We utilise the Logit Model to analyze the human relationship between Cyberspace use and residents’ objective risk attitudes. According to the regression results in columns (7) and (8) of Table 2, regardless of whether the traditional information source variables are controlled or not, the objective risk attitudes variables are significantly positively correlated with the Internet employ variable at i% significance level.

This shows that the innovation of information sources has as well improved the objective take a chance preferences of residents. The higher the dependence on the Internet to obtain information is, the higher the objective risk preferences are. In addition, the coefficients of the 3 traditional data source variables are not significant, indicating that the impacts of the Internet on risk attitudes is far greater than those of traditional information sources.

Regarding the control variables, Age, Health status, Didactics, Study habits, Annual income per capita, The value of family Holding, and Family Liquid avails, etc. all take significant positive correlations with the objective risk attitudes variable. Nevertheless, the coefficients of Gender and Social relations are significantly negative.⁵

Heterogeneity Assay

Up to this indicate, we have verified the positive relationship betwixt internet utilize and residents’ chance attitudes. In this newspaper, the Internet use variable is expressed in terms of the importance evaluation of the Internet as an access to information. Nosotros don’t demand to do the machinery assay like other studies, because the connotation of Cyberspace use variable has precisely pointed out this logic: The Net has innovated our style of acquiring information. In the process of obtaining information, the more nosotros rely on the Internet, the greater its impact on our concept is.

Next, we are interested in whether the positive impacts of Internet use are dissimilar among groups with dissimilar characteristics. In previous function of this paper, we take the generalized ordered logit model as our analytical tool to hash out the relationship between Internet apply and residents’ subjective risk attitudes. As the subjective run a risk attitudes variables are divided into 6 levels, this leads to the parallel line hypothesis required by ordered logit model is non satisfied. In social club to facilitate the following subgroup regression assay, we reorganize the subjective risk attitudes variable, and measure information technology on a two-point scale: 0 = Low risk preference, one = High risk preference.^half-dozen
Then nosotros tin can estimate the subjective risk attitudes model with a logit model by using the subgroup data to analysis the heterogeneous impacts of Internet utilise. Equally before, the following regression results also written report the odds ratios.

Internet Use Reasons and Risk Attitudes

The reasons for Net use point residents’ motivations that can help u.s. meliorate understand the relationship betwixt Cyberspace use and take a chance attitudes. If Internet use can alleviate the risk disfavor of residents by improving their access to information, then a reasonable expectation is that different ways of using the Internet will have different impacts on their risk attitudes. In the following models, nosotros group the whole samples based on their frequency data of using the Net for written report, work, socializing, entertainment, and commercial related activities. Considering the heterogeneity of usage, we empirically analyze the impacts of the Internet on residents’ take a chance attitudes. Tables three–seven prove the regression results of the different grouping models.

Table iii

Tabular array 4

TABLE 5

Table 6

Table 7

Information technology tin can be seen from the results of all the models to a higher place that although there are different reasons for using the Internet, the higher the frequency of net use, the more pregnant the positive impacts of Internet utilise on their take a chance attitudes. For the grouping with low frequency of Internet utilise, the coefficients of the Internet utilise variables in virtually models are not significant or negative. Further comparing the variable coefficients of each model, nosotros also find that the positive impacts of Internet use are greater in those groups who use the Internet for commerce, study, and work activities.

Internet Use, Personal Characteristics, and Risk Attitudes

According to the previous literature review, individual cognition, learning ability, and life events experience, etc. are all important factors affecting individual take chances attitudes. Although we have discussed the impacts of dissimilar reasons for Net apply, we have non discussed the impacts of different individual characteristics. Regarding the heterogeneity of individual characteristics, the following part of this paper examines which kind of residents’ gamble attitudes are more afflicted by Cyberspace apply. In the post-obit part, the sample residents are divided into groups according to their study motivation, study power, region, and life events feel. By doing this, we analysis the impacts of Cyberspace utilise on the adventure attitudes of residents with dissimilar personal characteristics. Tables 8–11 show the regression results of the different grouping models.

Table viii

TABLE 9

Tabular array 10

We employ the empirical analysis approach to explore the marginal impact of Internet apply on the risk attitudes of these ii types of residents. Table 11 reports the regression results. The results show that compared with the residents without life events experience, Cyberspace apply can more than significantly meliorate the risk attitudes of the residents with life events feel.

Table xi

As a new type of it, the touch on of Internet use requires its users to have some learning initiatives. A reasonable expectation is that the bear upon of Net use on the risk attitudes of residents with stiff learning initiatives is more than pregnant. Whether having the habit of reading can be used as an evaluation criterion of residents’ learning initiatives. The overall sample is divided into the group with reading habits and the grouping without reading habits. Then, nosotros empirically clarify the two groups. Tabular array viii shows the regression results. For residents with active learning habits, the coefficients of the Net use variable are significantly positive at 1% significance level for both the subjective risk attitudes model and the objective hazard attitudes model; and for the residents without agile learning habits, the coefficients of the Cyberspace use variable are non meaning in subjective risk attitudes model. But in the objective risk attitudes model, the coefficients of both groups are significantly positive. One reason might be related to the measurement method of the objective adventure attitudes, the second is that whether having reading habits actually cannot reflect residents’ learning abilities (Precisely, the application of a new applied science and the reverse affect of new technology are highly related to the learning ability of users).

Considering the results, we detect that for residents without agile learning habits, Internet use does not accept a pregnant touch on on their subjective risk attitudes. Meanwhile, group does non impact the positive influence of Internet use on objective risk attitudes.

Although the results of the above models show that Internet use has different effects on the risk attitudes of residents with different learning initiatives, from a more authentic point of view, the influencing degree depends on the users’ learning and acceptance abilities. Because with the continued prosperity of the Internet Ecology, the information provided by the Internet is increasingly abundant. The influence of information sources on the concept of residents is closely related to their learning and comprehension abilities. Residents with stiff learning and comprehension abilities can better tap the intrinsic value of the rich information connected by the Internet, and their thoughts are affected more deeply. Therefore, the regression model shown in Tabular array eight above actually implies a hypothesis that the residents with active learning habits have higher learning abilities. In order to measure the learning ability more than accurately, the following takes the actual years of education every bit the measurement of their learning abilities. The reasons are as follows: first, the greater the number of years of instruction is, the improve the learning ability; and second, the stronger the learning power is, the more likely the individual is to receive formal pedagogy for a longer fourth dimension. Therefore, the bodily years of education tin can accurately measure the learning abilities of residents.

In the following model, the overall sample is divided into a group with relatively more education years and a group with relatively fewer education years.⁷
Table ix shows the regression results of the 2 groups. Internet use has significantly improved the subjective and objective adventure attitudes of the more than educated residents, only overall does non take a significant bear on on the risk attitudes of the less educated residents.

The studies of Dohmen et al. (2016) and Banks et al. (2019) both found that events in life take meaning furnishings on private gamble preferences. Co-ordinate to whether the residents have been hospitalized or unemployed for more than than 12 months in 2018 and the past 5 years, we construct a proxy variable of personal life events experience^viii
by summarizing the survey data of CFPS 2014, CFPS 2016, and CFPS 2018. Based on this dummy variable, the samples were divided into ii groups: those with life events feel and those without life events experience. First of all, Table x reports the hateful test result of the subjective and objective run a risk attitudes variables of the two groups of residents. It can be seen that the residents with life events experience are more conservative than the residents without life events feel from both subjective and objective aspects. This implies that life events experience tends to make individuals risk averse. This can be due to the fact that later experiencing a life modify, people volition generate a fright of uncertainty in the future, which makes them more gamble averse.

The mean examination result in Table 10 has shown that the residents with life events experience are more than bourgeois than those without life events feel. In Tabular array 11, we find that for the residents with life events experience, the marginal impacts of Internet use on their run a risk attitudes are more meaning. These 2 facts show that Internet use can offset the negative impacts of life events experience on the take chances attitudes to a certain extent. These results confirm that Internet apply tin can alleviate residents’ fear of uncertainty and improve their hazard preferences.

Robustness Analysis

Endogeneity

We report the IV estimates for the subjective and objective risk attitudes in Table 12.^ix
Nosotros utilise the ratio of Net broadband access users in the total population at the provincial or municipality level as the instrumental variable and the results prove that regardless of whether other data sources are controlled or not, the coefficients of the instrumental variable are all significantly positive in both the two kinds of models. This is consistent with the previous findings.

Tabular array 12

Using Selection on Observables to Assess the Bias From Unobservables

Fifty-fifty though we tried to control many private and family characteristics in our identification strategy, at that place still may be the business that some unobservable variables correlated with Net employ and residents’ risk attitudes may bias our results. How can we assess the bias caused by this problem? Post-obit the studies of Nunn and Wantchekon (2011) and Oster (2015), nosotros use a method to examine to what extent the unobservable variables may bias the results above. Specifically, this method constructs a ratio value through the results of different forms of regression models synthetic past observable variables. This ratio value reflects how of import the unobservable variables need to be to bias the original results. Through this method, we notice that the unobservable variables take to exist 6.3 times as important as the observable variables to accept a significant bear on on the original results. From this perspective, the possibility of a significant departure caused past unobservable variables is very small. Information technology is unlikely that the possible unobservable factors are a fatal problem.

Adjusting the Variables, Samples, and Models

In order to verify the impacts of Internet use from multiple perspectives, this paper also uses the data from the CFPS questionnaires to construct alternative variables of data engineering applications. We use these alternative variables to replace the Net apply variable in the previous empirical models for a robustness test. The empirical results evidence that the substitute information technology variables still have significant positive effects on residents’ risk attitudes.

Further, we likewise process the model data, and then put the processed data into the original regression models to test the robustness of the results. Specifically, first of all, considering that at that place are differences in the concepts of the elderly and young adults, in the processed information, we exclude the samples of residents aged lx and in a higher place. Secondly, in society to avoid the effects of outliers in the sample data on the regression results of the model, we as well winsorize the continuous variables at the 1 and 99% levels. In order to discuss the non-linear human relationship between age and hazard attitude, nosotros also add the squared variable of age to the model. Finally, we put the above data into the regression models, and observe that the positive impact of Internet employ on residents’ risk attitudes has not changed.

Decision and Give-and-take

Conclusion

Nowadays, the popularization and application of it in China plays an increasingly important role in promoting economic and social evolution. In essence, the innovation of information technology represented by the Cyberspace has changed the style of residents’ data access. This change has had a dandy impact on residents’ concepts. From the perspective of residents’ risk attitudes, this paper empirically analyzes the impacts of Net use on residents’ gamble attitudes. The results show the following. Firstly, Internet employ can significantly improve residents’ subjective and objective gamble preference attitudes. Secondly, this paper farther analyzes the touch of Internet use on risk attitudes with different reasons for utilize. The results show that although in that location are different purposes for using the Internet, the common thing is that in the procedure of obtaining data, the higher the dependence on Cyberspace use is, the more significant the positive impact of Internet apply on their risk attitudes. Finally, this paper also considers the heterogeneity of residents’ personal characteristics and finds that Internet use is more than helpful to enhance the risk preference attitudes of those residents who accept active learning habits, more than years of educational activity, more than wealth, and more life events experience. This written report provides systematic evidence for the relationship between Internet use and residents’ run a risk attitudes. Risk attitudes are an important gene affecting residents’ savings, consumption, investment, labor supply, insurance and health services purchases and many other economic behaviors. The changes of residents’ risk attitudes are conducive to improving the tolerance of micro subjects to the overall economic hazard and encouraging innovation activities in lodge, which is greatly conductive to high-quality development.

Policy Implications

The Chinese government has launched its strategy “Digital Red china” to facilitate the information of the whole lodge. This strategy aims to improve the economic efficiency and social innovation through the construction of information infrastructure and the application of it. Every bit i of the almost important factors affecting residents’ behaviors, risk attitudes not but play a role at the micro level, simply likewise are closely linked with the innovation ability of the whole society at the macro level. Improving the risk preference of the whole society is conductive to stimulating the innovation vitality of our society. Given the significant positive impact of Internet use on residents’ risk attitudes, the authorities should promote the structure of the information infrastructure and implement a digital evolution strategy. While promoting the application and popularization of information technology, we should pay attention to guiding the residents’ habits when using information technology so as to requite total play to the positive impacts of information applied science. We should also pay attention to the individual characteristics of residents, strengthen the cultural construction, and promote the growth of residents’ income and wealth and so that residents can better share the “digital dividend” brought by the popularization of information applied science.

Data Availability Statement

Publicly available datasets were analyzed in this report. This data tin be establish hither: http://www.isss.pku.edu.cn/cfps/download.

Author Contributions

SZ, GZ, and JL: conceptualization, data drove, analysis, and manuscript preparation. SZ, GZ, and HG: conceptualization and manuscript grooming. All authors contributed to the article and canonical the submitted version.

Funding

This research was supported past the National Philosophy and Social Sciences Foundation of China (Grant No. 22ZDA058) and the Central Research Funds for the Central Universities of Mainland china (Grant No. ZY2206).

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the inquiry was conducted in the absence of whatever commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of involvement.

Publisher’southward Note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Whatsoever product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed past the publisher.

Footnotes

1. ^
   Data source: China Cyberspace Network Data Center, 2020.
2. ^
   The Ordered Logit/Probit Model needs the dependent variable satisfy the parallel line hypothesis which is difficult for existent-world data. So nosotros apply Generalized Ordered Logit Model which relaxes the condition and can redress the shortcomings of Ordered Logit/Probit Model.
3. ^
   “4G” is “The 4th generation mobile communication technology.” It has a faster Internet admission speed and brings the era of mobile Net.
4. ^
   The data are from “China Statistical Yearbook 2016.”
5. ^
   Tabular array 2 reports the odds ratios of all variables. The value of odds ratio < 1 ways that the independent variable is negatively correlated with the dependent variable.
6. ^
   If the risk attitudes value is smaller than the hateful value, we group the samples as Low risk preference. If the gamble attitudes value is greater than the mean value, we grouping the samples as Loftier risk preference.
7. ^
   If the schooling year value is greater than the mean value, we group the samples equally More educated. If the schooling years is greater than the hateful value, we grouping the samples every bit Less educated.
8. ^
   If we consider the feel of hospitalization or unemployment, respectively, the sample size of both is small. Furthermore, the two kinds of experiences are both setbacks in life. Here, we combine these two kinds of life experiences to construct the personal feel variable.
9. ^
   We utilize a Iv-probit model to do the endogenous analysis.

References