DOES THE INTERNET MAKE PEOPLE STAY HOME? EVALUATING THE IMPACT OF THE INTERNET ON VEHICLE TRANSPORTATION AND MOTOR FUEL CONSUMPTION

摘要

The striving of nations to build an Internet-based information society is based on the belief thatrnpositive economic impacts will be achieved via the Internet. What about the environmentalrnimpacts of the Internet? This paper investigates the determinants of vehicle transportation andrnmotor fuel consumption, with the specific aim of quantifying the effects of the Internet onrnvehicle transportation and motor fuel consumption. A panel data from 50 U.S. states in thernperiod of 2001-2012 (with gaps) was analyzed using fixed effects least square dummy variablern(LSDV) model and random effects feasible generalized least squares (GLS) model. Resultsrnshow that Internet usage is negatively related to vehicle transportation and motor fuelrnconsumption, and therefore the development of the Internet indeed decreases fuel mileages.