Home-Country Internet and Immigrants' Well-Being

This paper documents the effects of home-country internet expansion on immigrants' health and subjective well-being (SWB). Combining data from the European Social Survey with data on 3G and overall internet expansion, I find that immigrants' SWB increases following home-country internet expansion. This result is observed in two-way fixed effects and event study frameworks. The effects are stronger for (i) first-generation immigrants, (ii) those less socially integrated, and (iii) those with stronger family ties abroad. Thus, while recent evidence finds negative effects of the internet and social media on well-being, the effects are different for immigrants.