This working paper, published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, investigates how mobile app usage among college students, particularly the use of gaming and social apps, affects academic performance and labor market outcomes. The study uses data from a Chinese university combined with mobile phone records and highlights the role of peer influence in exacerbating these effects. The researchers examine both direct effects of app usage and indirect effects due to roommates’ behaviors, demonstrating that mobile app usage is contagious among peers and leads to significant negative impacts on academic performance and future wages. The report suggests that increased app usage lowers GPAs and wages, while also reducing physical health and time spent on academic activities like studying. Extending China’s restrictions on gaming for minors to college students could help mitigate some of these effects, improving labor market outcomes.
The study provides policy implications, suggesting that restricting gaming time could increase post-graduation wages. The paper also delves into time allocation behaviors and how excessive app usage contributes to academic decline and labor market challenges.
Authors
- Pages
- 70
- Published in
- United States of America
Table of Contents
- Introduction 3
- Institutional Background and Data Description 7
- Background Information 7
- Data 10
- Data for Main Analysis 10
- Supplementary Data 11
- Summary Statistics 12
- Peer Effects on App Usage 14
- Reduced-Form Estimates 14
- Separating behavioral spillover effects from contextual effects 16
- Effects on Academic and Labor Market Outcomes 18
- App Usage and Academic Performance 18
- App Usage and Labor Market Outcomes 22
- Robustness and Heterogeneity 24
- Robustness Analysis 24
- Heterogeneity 26
- Evidence on Underlying Mechanism 27
- High-Frequency Location Evidence 27
- Survey Evidence 28
- Conclusion 29
- Appendix 47
- Data Construction 47
- Figures and Tables 47
- Survey Questions 64
