Research on the Promotion and Differentiation Effect of Personal Income from Internet Use

Purpose/Significance China’s internet infrastructure construction and application have developed rapidly, but there are still unbalanced and insufficient development of individuals’ capabilities. In the deepening Internet era, exploring the impact of Internet use on personal income has important practical value for optimizing the pattern of income distribution. Design/Methodology Based on CGSS micro-social survey data, the causal effects were identified by basic regression comparison, exploratory factor analysis, and propensity score matching methods, supplemented by sensitivity analysis, robustness test and heterogeneity analysis, to empirically test the enhancement and differentiation effect of Internet use on personal income. Conclusions/Findings Considering individuals’ application ability, the personal income improvement effect of Internet use is significant and stable, the heterogeneity analysis shows that the rural population benefits more compared with the urban population, females’ income enhances more than that of men, young group gets more than old group, and the skill stratification is significant. In the stage of improving the imbalance in access availability, the income increasing effect of Internet use is significant. Crossing this stage, we need to pay attention to how to deal with the problem of “dividend differentiation”.