The impact of Internet technologies on the economic behavior of individuals and households
Introduction . Digitalization leads to changes in economic relations, transforms and activates the behavior of the main economic agents in a certain direction. The scientific discussion examines the positive and negative consequences of the use of Internet technologies by agents, changes in their behavior in the main markets - consumer, financial and labor market. Purpose . The purpose of the study is to assess the impact of Internet technologies on the economic behavior of an individual and household in three markets: the labor market, the market for goods and services, and the financial market. Materials and methods . The study applied a demographic approach to assessing the impact of the use of Internet technologies on the economic behavior of individuals based on the RLMS-HSE data for 2012-2019. The main research method was the assessment of the probability of an individual’s economic behavior based on the construction of probit-models on panel data. Socio-demographic and economic characteristics of individuals were included as control variables in the binary choice model. Research results, discussion . The results of fitting probit-models empirically confirm the positive impact of Internet use on such aspects of the economic behavior of individuals as: consumption of durable goods, the decision to take a loan, and economic activity in the labor market. Additional conclusions of the model are associated with an increase or decrease in the probability of economic behavior when an individual is assigned to a certain socio-demographic group. Conclusion . The practical significance of the study is to confirm the stimulation of consumer, borrowing and labor behavior through digital inclusion. When developing a policy in the field of expanding consumer credits, bank lending to individuals, it is necessary to pay attention to the growing propensity of the population to borrow behavior when using Internet technologies.