Abstract
Abstract In the light of recent policies aiming at raising the computer literacy of younggenerations and at reducing the digital divide, this paper analyzes to what extent theprobability of an individual to have computer abilities is affected by the computerskills of her household’s other members, i.e. if there are significant within householdpeer effects. We show how peer effects can be identified when skills are measuredwith a continuous variable and the learning costs are increasing and convex. Ourapplication for a sample of Italian households indicate that peers’ abilities inside afamily increase significantly one’s own probability, and this amplifies the effect ofowning a computer at home.Keywords: Computer Use and Skills, Digital Divide, Peer Effects, Education andTraining, Labor Market PolicyJEL classification: A13, C35, J24 ∗ We thank the participants to the 2 nd “Brucchi Luchino” Workshop held in Milan on December12-13, 2003, the ESPE 2004 Conference in Bergen, Norway on June 10-12, the 4
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