How Internet Use Spurs Entrepreneurial Activities? Evidence from China

Table 1

Definitions and descriptive statistics of the variables (N = 14608).

Categorical variables	Variables	Definitions	Mean
Dependent variable	Entrepreneurship	Ever tried = 1, never = 0	0.078
Independent variable	Internet use	Using the internet = 1, else = 0	0.662
	Learning ability	The total score of respondents’ 5 categories of learning abilities: 0–5; the categories are reading, writing, communication, online banking and ATM use	3.903
Intermediary variables	Social capital	The logarithm of the total cost of the social expenditure in each family	5.531
	Income	The logarithm of the monthly income	6.186
	Financial products investment	Have investment = 1, otherwise = 0	0.050
Instrumental variable	Regional frequency of the internet use	The average rate of the Internet use	2.359
Control variables	Sex	Male = 1, female = 0	0.459
	Age	Age in 2016	41.800
	Registered permanent residence	Urban household = 1, else = 0	0.324
	Marital status	In marriage = 1, else = 0	0.832
	Education level
	Junior high school	Junior high school = 1, else = 0	0.337
	Senior high school	Senior high school = 1, else = 0	0.170
	Undergraduate	Undergraduate = 1, else = 0	0.130
	Poor health	Poor health = 1, else = 0	0.124
	Fair health	Fair health = 1, else = 0	0.265
	Family size	Numbers of families	4.350
	Car ownership	Have cars = 1, otherwise = 0	0.234
	Religious belief	Faith in religion = 1, otherwise = 0	0.136
	Smoking history	Smoking = 1, otherwise = 0	0.263
	Appearance	The score of respondents’ self-rated appearance from 1 to 10	6.476
	East area	East = 1, else = 0	0.433
	Middle area	Middle = 1, else = 0	0.268
	West area	West = 1, else = 0	0.298