BECE. Newsletter 

Vol.12, No.1, 2022 1597 

 

 

 

 

Will Internet Use Increase Farmers’ Household 

Investment in Education? Micro Evidence from 

CHFS2019 

By Cui, B. Y. & Cheng, Y. Q. 
Correspondence to: Baoyu Cui, School of Economics, Anhui University, China. 

E-mail: cby00662003@aliyun.com 

UBLISHED in Agricultural Technology Economics, this study examines 

the impact of Internet use on rural households’ investment in child edu-

cation and its mechanism, using data from China Household Finance Survey 

data 2019 (CHFS2019). The results of the study are as follows: 

 The benchmark regression reveals that the positive effect of In-

ternet use on rural education outweighs the negative impact, and 

that the Internet use can significantly increase the farmers’ in-

vestment in child education. 

 The heterogeneity effect analysis indicates that for the Internet 

use plays a greater positive role in boosting farmers’ educational 

investment among households with lower educational levels, 

lower income levels and lower educational investment levels. The 

Internet use increases the opportunities for academic success of 

rural children from disadvantaged backgrounds. 

 The mediation effect test demonstrates that farmers’ social capital 

and risk taking mediates the relationship between the Internet use 

and their investment in child education. The moderator effect test 

shows that a decline in public education satisfaction plays a posi-

tive moderating role in increasing farmers’ investment in child 

education through the Internet use.  

Based on the above findings, this study puts forward the following 

recommendations: (1) Increase the awareness of Internet use among farmers 

and their children; (2) Accelerate the integration of Internet and education 

through distance education and online tutoring; (3) Push the construction of 

information infrastructure in central and western China and in other back-

ward rural areas, help disadvantaged farmers to improve their Internet litera-

cy, and bridge the “digital divide”; (4) Educate farmers on the importance of 

the Internet use in child education and enhance their willingness of invest-

ment in education (5) Vigorously promote balanced distribution of educa-

P 

mailto:cby00662003@aliyun.com


 

Vol.12, No.1, 2022 1598 

tional resources in urban and rural areas and improve the farmers’ satisfac-

tion with public education. 

 

Source: Journal of Agrotechnical Economics,2022; DOI: 

10.13246/j.cnki.jae.20220809.001