Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/180473 
Year of Publication: 
2018
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 11455
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
After a decade of correlational research, this study is the first to measure the causal impact of (general) smartphone use on educational performance. To this end, we merge survey data on general smartphone use, exogenous predictors of this use, and other drivers of academic success with the exam scores of first-year students at two Belgian universities. The resulting data are analysed with instrumental variable estimation techniques. A one-standard-deviation increase in daily smartphone use yields a decrease in average exam scores of about one point (out of 20). When relying on ordinary least squares estimations, the magnitude of this effect is substantially underestimated.
Subjects: 
smartphone use
academic performance
causality
JEL: 
I21
I23
L86
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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