The impact of digital skills on educational outcomes: evidence from performance tests |
| |
Authors: | Laura Pagani Gianluca Argentin Marco Gui Luca Stanca |
| |
Institution: | 1. Department of Economics, Management and Statistics, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy;2. Department of Sociology, Catholic University of Sacred Hearth, Milan, Italy;3. Department of Sociology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy |
| |
Abstract: | Digital skills are increasingly important for labour market outcomes and social participation. Do they also matter for academic performance? This paper investigates the effects of digital literacy on educational outcomes by merging data from the Italian National Assessment in secondary schools with an original data-set on performance tests of Internet skills for tenth-grade students. Our identification strategy relies on a rich set of individual, family, school and classroom control variables that are not commonly available in previous studies. The findings indicate that, overall, Internet skills have a positive impact on academic achievement. This effect is stronger for students with low academic performance or low family background. It is also stronger for students in technical or vocational schools. |
| |
Keywords: | Human capital academic achievement digital skills internet skills digital divide |
|
|