Does broadband Internet affect fertility?

Abstract

The spread of high-speed (broadband) Internet epitomizes the digital revolution. Using German panel data, we test whether the availability of broadband influences fertility choices in a low-fertility setting well known for the difficulty in combining work and family life. We exploit a strategy devised by Falck and colleagues to obtain causal estimates of the impact of broadband on fertility. We find positive effects of broadband availability on the fertility of highly educated women aged 25-45. We further confirm this result using county-level data on total fertility. We show that broadband access significantly increases the share of women reporting home-or part-time working. Furthermore, we find positive effects on time spent with children and overall life satisfaction. Our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that access to broadband allows highly educated women, but not the less educated, to reconcile career and motherhood, which may promote a 'digital divide' in fertility.

Using an Online Sample to Estimate the Size of an Offline Population

“…The digital divide is important because research has revealed that access to the internet may affect health and wellbeing through a wide range of different mechanisms. For example, scholars have found that increasing internet adoption may lead to job creation (Hjort and Poulsen 2019), improvements in education (Kho et al 2018), increases in international trade (Clarke and Wallsten 2006), increases in social capital (Bauernschuster et al 2014), political mobilization (Manacorda and Tesei 2016), reduced sleep (Billari et al 2018), and changes in fertility (Billari et al 2019). The World Bank devoted its 2016 World Development Report to the 'digital dividends' that may result from increasing access to the internet in the developing world (World Bank 2016).…”

GGP Technical Case & E-Needs

“…Finally, a push to web approach reflects a broader trend within social demography which seeks to incorporate more diverse forms of data into social science research. The internet is not just a tool for social scientists but also a fundamental object of study, one that is fundamentally reshaping human behaviours (F C Billari, Giuntella, and Stella 2017). A future online means that the GGP is better placed to capture internet related data, especially in the form of paradata.…”

How's Life in the Digital Age? (Summary in Spanish)

“…Among positive effects, teleworkers report reduced commuting times, more flexibility in organising their working time, and better overall work-life balance (Eurofound and ILO, 2017). Billari, Giuntella and Stella (2017) also found that German women who have high-speed Internet access at home are better able to attain their desired number of children, by reducing the time constraints associated with combining work and parenthood. Evidence from the American Time Use Survey shows that reductions in the time spent commuting and in home production due to Internet increase labour force participation, in particular among married women (Dettling, 2016).…”

“…Like other opportunities of the digital transformation, the possibility to work remotely also gives rise to new inequalities. Due to the different nature of job tasks, teleworking is almost exclusively available to high-skill knowledge workers (Billari, Giuntella and Stella, 2017). Germany ranks below OECD average in terms of teleworking penetration, which is perhaps explained by cultural factors: Brenke (2014) estimates that teleworking would be theoretically possible for about 40% of German jobs, but hypothesises that teleworking is less accepted by companies than in other countries.…”