B0358
Title: The impact of offline social networks on the age digital divide
Authors: Dalila Failli - University of Florence (Italy) [presenting]
Bruno Arpino - University of Padua (Italy)
Abstract: The age-digital divide is the gap between older adults and younger individuals in accessing information technology. Although this gap has narrowed in recent decades, a digital divide is still present. Findings from the literature indicate that the social context, and more generally the influence and support of family and friends, may have a great influence on the digital inclusion of older adults. To establish the causal link between intergenerational relationships and the reduction of the digital divide, combining data from the European Social Survey and the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) is proposed. Indeed, the former contains important information on the level of digitalization of older adults, while the latter provides key information on individuals' network of family contacts and friendships, while also taking into account important factors such as education, income, and cognitive abilities. Since the treatment assignment mechanism is unknown, plausible assumptions need to be introduced. Under the strong ignorability assumption, it is possible to remove the covariate imbalance between treatment groups through matching techniques, finally obtaining an estimate of the causal effect of interest. To check the robustness of the results obtained against deviations from the unconfoundedness assumption, a sensitivity analysis is performed.
