Internet Use and Household Health Investment: Empirical Analysis Based on CFPS Data

Under the background of population aging, health investment has become a very important investment activity for households in China. At the same time, with the advent of digital society, the internet and digital technology are gradually integrated with the traditional medical and health industry, affecting household health investment decisions and their realization forms. Using data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) in 2014, 2016 and 2018, this paper examines systematically the impact of internet use on household health investment, and analyzes its transmission mechanism by using two-way fixed effect model, instrumental variable estimation, and mediating effect model.The results show that internet use can significantly increase both the probability and amount of household health investment, and the increase is more significant for households in urban areas, with higher education levels and high income. The mechanism analysis shows that internet use promotes household health investment mainly through the mechanisms of information capital and peer pressure.