Template-type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Teodosio Pérez Amaral 
Author-Workplace-Name: Instituto Complutense de Análisis Económico. Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Author-Name: Angel Valarezo Unda
Author-Workplace-Name: Instituto Complutense de Análisis Económico. Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Author-Name: Rafael López Zorzano
Author-Workplace-Name: Instituto Complutense de Análisis Económico. Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Author-Name: Teresa Garín Muñoz
Author-Workplace-Name: UNED
Title: Digital divides across consumers of internet services in Spain using panel data 2007-2019. Narrowing or not?
Abstract: Digital gaps have the potential to exacerbate the inequalities that exist in society. The main objective of this paper 
	is to study the gaps that occur in the use of internet services by households in Spain during the period 2007-2019 and 
	to become useful in the design of policies addressed to narrow specific digital divides. The data is a panel obtained 
	from the ICT-H Survey on Households of the National Statistics Institute. This paper defines the gaps as the differences 
	in the use of internet services across individual consumers. A selected group of twelve digital services are considered: 
	e-commerce, e-selling, e-tourism, e-learning, e-health, e-banking, e-government, VoIP, chat, email, cloud services, and 
	social networks. The second level digital gaps are analyzed in each service according to six relevant socio-demographic 
	characteristics: gender, age, education, digital skills, population size, and income. A set of graphs show the evolution 
	of the gaps. Gaps are narrowing in most dimensions and specific characteristics, but not in others such as age, education, 
	and digital skills. The gaps reveal the evolution of digitization and in some cases of digital exclusion for specific groups. 
	Specific knowledge about digital gaps is useful for policymakers, since closing the digital divide is an explicit policy 
	goal in this country, as well as in other parts of Europe. Then, a dynamic panel data model was proposed and estimated using 
	Arellano and Bond techniques. A dynamic/network effect was found, as well as other socio-demographic determinants. Finally, 
	the paper contains conclusions, policy recommendations and an agenda for future research. The policy recommendations consist 
	of digital education programs targeted at the most exposed groups such as the elderly, the less well-educated and people with 
	lower digital skills.
Classification-JEL: C30, L86, L96.
Keywords: Digital divide; Digital gaps; Internet services; Individual panel data; Dynamic panel data model.
Length: 29 pages 
Creation-Date: 2021-01
Number: 2021-01
X-File-Ref: http://america.sim.ucm.es/repec/ucm/ref/doicae2101.txt
File-URL: https://eprints.ucm.es/id/eprint/63542/1/Doc.%202101.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
Handle: RePEc:ucm:doicae:2101