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The effect of home computer use on children’s cognitive and non-cognitive skills
ARTICLE

Economics of Education Review Volume 29, Number 1, ISSN 0272-7757 Publisher: Elsevier Ltd

Abstract

In this paper we investigate the effect of using a home computer on children’s development. In most OECD countries 70% or more of the households have a computer at home and children use computers quite extensively, even at very young ages. We use data from the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (LSAC), which follows an Australian cohort born in 1999/2000. Skills and computer usage information is collected when children are approximately 5 and 7 years old. For cognitive skills, our results indicate that computer time has a positive effect. For non-cognitive skills the evidence is mixed, the effect depending on the score and the age of the children. We test the robustness of our results by comparing OLS, IV and Value Added estimators. Generally, the IV estimates are larger and the Value Added estimates lower than the OLS ones. However the pattern of the results is quite consistent.

Citation

Fiorini, M. (2010). The effect of home computer use on children’s cognitive and non-cognitive skills. Economics of Education Review, 29(1), 55-72. Elsevier Ltd. Retrieved June 8, 2023 from .

This record was imported from Economics of Education Review on March 1, 2019. Economics of Education Review is a publication of Elsevier.

Full text is availabe on Science Direct: http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/detail?accno=EJ870287

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