Assessing the Impact of Internet Access Satisfaction on Subjective Well-being Using a Discrete Choice Approach

Authors
Akram Akbari
Parviz Mohamadzadeh
Hussein Ali Sheeaa
University of Tabriz
Abstract
Extended Abstract

Introduction

Subjective well-being has become an increasingly important concept in welfare economics, happiness economics, and social policy analysis. Unlike objective welfare indicators such as income, employment, consumption, or access to public services, subjective well-being reflects how individuals evaluate and experience their own lives. In societies undergoing economic, institutional, and generational transitions, individuals’ assessment of their living conditions relative to their parents can provide a meaningful indicator of perceived progress or decline. Iraq represents an important context for such an analysis because the country has experienced economic uncertainty, institutional challenges, demographic pressures, and rapid digital transformation. In this setting, internet use may influence individuals’ perceived well-being by expanding access to information, learning opportunities, social networks, public services, and economic prospects. However, the relationship between internet use and subjective well-being is unlikely to be direct, linear, or uniform across all individuals.



Background and Innovation

The literature suggests that the welfare effects of internet use depend not only on access but also on the intensity, quality, and purpose of use. Internet use may improve well-being by reducing information costs, facilitating communication, supporting learning, and creating new opportunities. At the same time, it may generate adverse effects through social comparison, misinformation, excessive use, or passive consumption of digital content. Therefore, recent studies emphasize the importance of human capital and digital capability in shaping the welfare consequences of internet use. The main contribution of this study is threefold. First, it focuses on intergenerational relative subjective well-being, rather than conventional life satisfaction. Second, it distinguishes active internet use from mere access or satisfaction with access. Third, it examines whether education moderates the association between internet use and relative subjective well-being.



Aim and Method

The main objective of this study is to examine the relationship between active internet use and intergenerational relative subjective well-being in Iraq, with particular emphasis on the moderating role of education. The dependent variable is an ordinal measure of respondents’ evaluation of their current living conditions compared with their parents’ generation. It takes three ordered categories: worse than parents, the same as parents, and better than parents. The empirical analysis uses micro-level data from the eighth wave of the Arab Barometer survey for Iraq. Given the ordinal nature of the dependent variable and the survey design of the data, the baseline specification is estimated using a survey-weighted ordered logit model. The model controls for age, age squared, gender, household size, urban residence, employment status, household income adequacy, evaluation of current economic conditions, expectations about future economic conditions, trust in government, and governorate fixed effects. To assess the robustness of the results, alternative specifications including ordered probit, different measures of internet use, marginal effects, and post-estimation diagnostics are also employed.



Findings

The results indicate that the direct association between internet use and intergenerational relative subjective well-being is not uniform across the population. In the baseline models, internet use alone does not show a strong and stable direct relationship with higher relative subjective well-being after controlling for individual, economic, institutional, and regional characteristics. However, the interaction between active internet use and higher education provides evidence of heterogeneous effects. Among individuals with higher education, active internet use is associated with a higher probability of reporting a “better than parents” status and a lower probability of reporting a “worse than parents” status. This finding suggests that education may enhance individuals’ ability to transform digital access and internet use into meaningful opportunities.

The results also show that household income adequacy, household size, evaluation of current economic conditions, expectations about future economic conditions, trust in government, age, and age squared are important correlates of intergenerational relative subjective well-being. Governorate fixed effects are jointly significant, indicating that regional differences within Iraq play an important role in explaining variations in perceived intergenerational well-being. The robustness checks further suggest that the relationship between digital engagement and subjective well-being should not be interpreted as a simple universal effect. Rather, the welfare implications of internet use depend on individuals’ human capital and their capacity to use digital resources effectively.

Overall, the findings imply that digital policy should move beyond expanding physical internet access alone. Policies aimed at improving subjective well-being through digital transformation should also promote digital literacy, purposeful internet use, skill formation, and the integration of educational and digital development strategies. In particular, strengthening human capital may allow individuals to benefit more effectively from online information, learning resources, communication networks, and economic opportunities.
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