Le Guel, Fabrice <br/><br/>
Adoption of the Internet and Its Use for Commercial Purposes: An Econometric Study Using Data from Brittany 

 -  2005.<br/>							 
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<br/><br/> What are the forces driving or curbing Internet use in the home? A growing number of surveys have been conducted to address this question. In this vein, this paper focuses on the decision whether to have Internet access in the home and whether to make purchases online using the results of a survey conducted in Brittany in late 2002. The econometric results of this study, the first of its kind using French data, highlight the role of socioeconomic factors such as age, education, and occupation but also the positive impact of experience and neighborhood effects on Internet use. For example, a user will be more likely to buy on the Internet if a large proportion of those in the neighborhood do so also. This finding gives support to the idea that individual choices regarding online activity are often made in interaction with users’ immediate circle or social networks.