Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/326936 
Year of Publication: 
2025
Series/Report no.: 
UNU-MERIT Working Papers No. 2025-007
Publisher: 
United Nations University (UNU), Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (UNU-MERIT), Maastricht
Abstract: 
This paper provides one of the first robust evidence on the impact of internet access on adolescents' well-being and mental health in a low-income country context. We find reduced subjective well-being and increased measures of mental health disorders among young people in Ethiopia during 2020-2021 following internet diffusion. Our heterogeneity analysis reveals that the effects of internet access on mental health are unequal, with stronger negative impacts for adolescents from lower-wealth households. The mechanism analysis suggests that passive internet use, particularly among youth from less advantaged socioeconomic backgrounds, might drive these negative outcomes. To address potential endogeneity, we employ instrumental variable techniques combined with fixed effects. The instrument is relevant based on network effect arguments and reasonably exogenous conditional on control variables and fixed effects. Our results offer policy implications regarding internet access and youth human capital development in the digital age and highlight the significance of social causes in shaping mental health.
Subjects: 
Internet
Youth
Mental health
Well-being
Inequality
JEL: 
I14
O33
J13
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by-nc-sa Logo
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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