UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY VIETNAM INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL STUDIES THE HAGUE THE NETHERLANDS VIETNAM THE NETHERLANDS PROJECT FOR M A IN DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS DETERMINANTS OF COMPUTER OWNERSH[.]
UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY VIETNAM INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL STUDIES THE HAGUE THE NETHERLANDS VIETNAM- THE NETHERLANDS PROJECT FOR M.A IN DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS DETERMINANTS OF COMPUTER OWNERSHIP: CASE OF HOUSEHOLDS IN VIETNAM By: VO THI THANH NGA Academic Supervisor: Dr VO VAN HUY B¢ GIAO ~UC VA DAO T~O TRUONG OH KINH TE TP.HCM THU VIF.:N HO CHI MINH CITY, 2007 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis is a very important research during my study and it would not have been possible without the support and encouragement of many people First and foremost, I would like to acknowledge Dr Vo Van Huy, my supervisor, for his detailed correction and guidance throughout the th~sis process I am grateful to Prof Dr Karel Jansen, Dr Nguyen Hoang Bao and Dr Nguyen Trong Hoai for their insights and useful comments on the thesis Sincere thanks go to my friends, Mr Nguyen Ngoc Danh for his kind help in data issues and Mr Nguyen Van Cong for his inspiration and support I also would like to thank Ms Dang Kim Chi, the librarian, for her kindness to me throughout my study I would like to thank other professors, lecturers, classmates in the Project and other teachers and friends of mine for their help and friendship As for my parents, I just cannot thank them enough for their unconditional love and support CERTIFICATION I certify that the substance of this thesis has not been submitted for any degree and is not being currently submitted for any other degree I certify that to the best of my knowledge, any help received in preparing this thesis and all sources used have been acknowledged in this thesis ii ABSTRACT Low computer ownership rate has been proved to lead to low quality of life of households, slow down the economic development and make government administration less efficient This study investigates the determinants of computer ownership for the case of households in Vietnam, a developing country with a very low computer ownership rate The author reviews the literature and employs the Logit model and descriptive statistics to model the computer ownership and use; the data from the Vietnam Living Standard Survey 2004 Results support the empirical evidences that household socio-demographic characteristics greatly influence that household ownership of computer, which identifies the digital divide between types of households and regions Based on the results and empirical projects that have been carried out to enhance the computer availability, policy recommendation is given lll TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Chapter INTRODUCTION 1.1 Problem Statement ! 1.2 Objective of Study 1.3 Methodology and Scope of Research Chapter LITERATURE REVIEW AND RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 2.1 Basic Terms and Concepts 2.2 Economic Theories of Consumer Behavior 2.2.1 Neoclassical quantitative models of consumer behavior 2.2.1.1 The Indifference Curve Model 2.2.1.2The Marginal Utility Model 2.2.2 Demand for durable goods and qualitative choice models 10 2.2.3 Justification ofthe models 11 2.3 Empirical Studies 13 2.3.1 Methods of empirical researches applied 13 2.3 1.1 Methods of Internet access estimation 13 2.3 1.2Methods of computer use, computer expenditure and computer ownership estimation 14 2.3.1.3Justification ofthe methods in empirical studies 16 2.3 Major findings in empirical studies 17 2.3 2.1 Determinants of internet access 17 2.3 2.2Determinants of computer use, computer expenditure and computer ownership 17 2.3.2.3Justification of the determinants in empirical findings and some suggestions in the thesis research model 19 2.4 Econometric Model Specification 21 IV Chapter AN OVERVIEW OF THE COMPUTER MARKET AND COMPUTER OWNERSHIP IN VIETNAM 3.1 An overview of computer ownership, computer market and empirical projects to enhance the computer ownership in Vietnam 28 1.1 An overview of computer ownership of households in Vietnam 28 3.1.2 Computer market in Vietnam and prospect after Vietnam joined WT0 32 1.3 Some projects that have been carried out to enhance the computer ownership of households 3.2 Descriptive analysis on factors affecting computer ownership of households in Vietnam in VLSS 2004 38 Chapter ECONOMETRIC ANALYSIS 4.1 Logit model 45 4.2 The logit model in this study's estimation 46 4.3 Logistic regression results 47 4.4 Goodness-of-fit 49 4.5 Results interpretation 49 4.5.1 Coefficients and expected signs 50 4.5.2 Oddsratios 51 4.5.3 Probability estimated at different initial probability 54 Chapter CONCLUSIONS AND POLICY IMPLICATION 56 REFERENCES 60 APPENDIX Unrestricted model 63 APPENDIX Restricted model 64 APPENDIX Calculating P(computer)new from initial probability 65 v LIST OF TABLES Page Table Number of computers of Vietnam in comparison with other countries in 2005 .29 Table The probability of computer ownership in Vietnam 30 Table Hardware market value in Vietnam 2000-2005 (million USD) 33 Table Mean of characteristics by groups of ownership and non-ownership 38 Table Percentage of households owning a computer by income quintile 39 Table Computer ownership by groups of households with head's education highest qualification 40 Table Group of households by binary characteristics 41 Table Groups of households by region and their computer ownership 43 Table Unrestricted logit model .47 Table 10 Restricted logit model .48 Table 11 Coefficients and expected signs 50 Table 12 Interpreting in terms of odds ratios 52 Table 13 Interpreting probability changes at different initial probability 54 LIST OF FIGURES AND CHARTS Figure Components oflnformation Society Index .28 Chart Households with a home computer, 2000-2005, percentage of all households 30 Chart Percent of households owning computer(s) by different education attainment of household head 40 Chart Percentage of households owning a computer by geographical regions .43 LIST OF BOXES Box Success of Thanh Giong Project Vl Chapter INTRODUCTION 1.1 Problem Statement Joining the WTO in November 2006, Vietnam made a remarkable step on the way of integration into the global economy However, its sustained success in international competition will depend increasingly on basic education, science, technology and innovation (UNDP Vietnam, 2002) Besides undeniable positive impacts of computer use in work places, many researchers believe that computers influence households profoundly A computer in the home often serves three functions: (1) interpersonal communication; (2) information acquisition; and (3) entertainment (Papadakis 2001 ) More and more households own computers nowadays due to: (i) the availability of affordable computers for households; (ii) the user-friendliness of horne computers and; (iii) the expansion of home-based business (Wen Yin 2003) Significantly, in Vietnam, more than 50% of households are household enterprises (World Bank, 2004) Computer ownership, therefore, plays an important role in improving the quality of life for every household For the whole economy, the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) by households, including the use of computer, undoubtedly has impacts on economic performance, according to a research by OECD (liS report 2005:47), because: (i) the demand for ICT goods (e.g computers) by households has stimulated the growth of ICT sector and ICT applications; (ii) this has stimulated demand for products in sectors which rely heavily on ICT (e.g media and entertainment), which leads to the growth in those industries as well; (iii) in the future, the wide diffusion of ICT and e-commerce can help firms to deliver their products to households more efficiently; (iv) ICT use by household can benefit companies that require experienced ICT users For the government, computers to households and access to the Internet is a way of education, access to information and policy propagation In other words, computer use by households plays a big role in improving the quality of life for households, making profound impacts on the whole economy and helping the government administration more efficient According to the Vietnam Development Report 2004 by the World Bank, the poverty rate has been reduced dramatically in the past years: from 17.2% in 2001 to 8.3% in 2004 and 7% in 2005 On average, 340,000 poor families escape poverty each year However, to have a complete computer set, one must have at least 500 USD while the GDP per capita for Vietnamese in 2005 was only around 640 USD and around 715 USD in 2006 Low income makes computer unaffordable for many households Only 5% of households in Vietnam own a computer (VLSS 2004 ), a very low rate compared to that in 2004 of a developed Asian country like Korea (78%) Low computer ownership rate, as proved above, leads to low quality of life of households, slows down the economic development and makes government administration less efficient Severely, the absence of computer in a household can cause social and economic disadvantages to that household, leading to social exclusion (Papadakis 2001) This creates the gap in ICT adoption between members in the society, called the "digital divide" The extent to which the digital divide exists and why it exists, therefore, must be addressed In other words, the issue to be explored is the computer adoption of households in Vietnam "Given the scarcity of computers in lowincome countries like Vietnam, an operational strategy of increasing computer availability and skills would seem to offer considerable hope for increasing the incomes for the poor" (World Bank 2003) Hoan Long computer price list, Dec 2006 Korean National Statistical Office Unfortunately, there has been no research on computer ownership of households in Vietnam so far Therefore, studying the determinants of computer ownership for the case of households in Vietnam is chosen for the thesis research 1.2 Objective of the Study My study aims to answer the following questions: What are the main determinants of computer ownership of households in Vietnam? How is the current situation of the computer ownership of households and computer market in Vietnam today? How is the current digital divide in Vietnamese households? What can be done to improve the probability of computer ownership for households in Vietnam? The author aims to develop a conceptual model for estimating the demand for computer of households in Vietnam, and correspondingly suggest policy implications For policy makers, the research aims to give an overview of the demand for computers of households in Vietnam Based on the most significant determinants of computer ownership and from that, policy makers can have positive policies to enhance the computer availability, particularly in rural and remote areas to minimize the risk of social exclusion Besides, the government can estimate the demand for computer ownership and have a master plan for the development the computer industry together with the relevant plan for the development of the telecommunication system (internet broadband, telephone lines ) and supporting industries (other electronic production) For producers, the estimation of computer ownership while other determinants change can help computer producers to forecast the production and the targeted market This comes from the answer to the question: "Which types of Of all the compositions of the lSI are some main items related to household access: personal computers per household, broadband households, and home internet users This means Vietnam is one of the worst countries listed in information social development, especially to households It gives an urge to boost the socialization of information technology and computer access to households in Vietnam To see more ofthe situation, let us have a look at Table 1, and Chart Table Number of computers of Vietnam in comparison with other countries in 2005 Country/ Region China India Indonesia Japan Korea Malaysia Philippines Total number of computers (thousand units) Number of computers/ 1000 people 52,990 17,000 4.08 1.54 1.36 3,022 69,200 26,201 4,900 3,684 11,975 54.15 54.49 19.16 4.46 Vietnam 1,044 52.78 5.83 1.26 Asia African America 226,640 17,450 296,491 6.51 2.24 34.73 Europe Oceania 236,116 16,119 30.21 World 792,816 Taiwan Thailand 3,716 ·····························~·~······· 50.73 13.30 Source: International Telecom Union (an organization ofthe United Nations) statisticscited in £-commerce Report 2006 by Ministry ofTrade of Vietnam (published 2007) 29 Table The probability of computer ownership in Vietnam E.r~9.Y.~.IJ.~Y E~r~.~IJ!§!.9~ QYI'D~r~bip 463 NQD:9YI'D~E~b.JP Total 5.05 94.95 100 ?!Z14 9,177 Source: Vietnam Living Standard Survey VLSS 2004 (author's calculation) In the table, we can see that only 5.05% of households in Vietnam own a computer, a very low rate There's a very wide gap with the same statistics of some OECD countries Chart Households with a home computer, 2000-2005, percentage of all households 10 2000 tt2001 &2003 82004 1!!12005 80 60 40 20 )> )> c ;;; o;· 0 m N ~ ~ "'o;· ~ m ~ m ~ "' -o ~ ~ ~ Gl n I Gl ~ ;;> ~ ~ =m ~ ~ ;;> ~ ~ ;;> ~ iii' -< -o "' ~ ~ ~ ~ c = ~ g· ~ c r;· z ~ ~ ~ ;: ~ 5' z :; N ;;> ~ ~ w ~ ~ z -o 0 ;e :; w ~ ~ -o "' -o "' "' "' c < ;::;· ~ ~ ~: =m -< c " " ~ "' ~ ~ ~ w ~ ~ a; - ~ ~ "' "' = ~ ~ ~ Source: OECD, ICT database and Eurostat, "Community Survey on ICT usage in households and by individuals", September 2006 The very low rates of computers per 100 persons and of percentage of households with a home computer indicate a low level of social information development as well as a low development of hardware computer industry serving domestic market in Vietnam Mr Than Trong Phuc, CEO of Intel group - Indochina region, said that Vietnam has approximately 3 c : Source: Ministry of Trade news Dec 2004: wwwl.mot.gov.vn/Ven/VBdetail.asp?id=2420 30 ~ ~ - million households with annual income over 6,000 USD; - million households with annual income between 2,000 and 6,000 USD, and; 12 million households with annual income less than 2,000 USD With the first group, computer ownership doesn't matter them However, with the second and third group, how can they get access to computers? A research done by TNS group in Vietnam in 2005 showed that the purchase power for ICT items in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City had a growth rate of 25% during 2003 and 2004 The research also showed that 50% households in the centers and suburbs of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh city own mobile phones and 30% households in the centers and suburbs of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh city own computers Another recent market research carried by the AC Nielsen in 2006 showed that the rate of Vietnamese owning computers is increasing rapidly, in 2006 that rates in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City respectively are 48% and 45% Of these people, 32% use internet regularly, mainly at the age of from 18 to 30 Internet use boom also boosts computer ownership in households Year 2006 saw a fast growth rate of internet and telecom in Vietnam The number of internet subscribers in 2006 increased by 38% compared to that of 2005 The number of internet users in 2006 increased by 36%, accounted for 17.5% of total population If 2005 marked Vietnam's reach at the average of internet user rate of Asia (9.78%), at the end of 2006, Vietnam passed the world's average internet user rate (16.8%) (E-commerce Report 2006) According to Mr Chris Morley, CEO of AC Nielsen Vietnam, 60% of Vietnam population is under 30 years old6 More details, other statistics shows that 50% of the population is less than 25 years old with more than 23 million people of Vietnam is at school-age "Vietnam is one of the youngest population in the Ministry oflndustry: http://www.moi.gov.vn/News/Detail.asp?Sub=3l&id=i2936 dated May 30, 2005 Statistics in Vietnamnet Internet Center (VNNIC) Dec 2006 www.vnnic.net.vn and Internet World Statscited in E-commerce Report 2006- Ministry ofTrade of Vietnam (2007) SaiGon Tiep Thi Magazine dated September 03,2005 McCool, a Reuters's correspondent, cited in http://www.moi.gov.vn/News/Detail.asp?Sub=31&id=12936 31 world, which is a very good market for computers and mobile phones", said Mr Morley During the first months in 2006, the number of computers sold increased 24% compared to the same period of2005 Impressively, the number of computers sold in the last quarter of 2006 is more than the sum of previous quarters 70% of computers sold are assembled domestically because of the advantage of price and distribution network Most of the computers purchased are low-price computers, mainly bought by households (especially for students), and small enterprises However, an alert is that of all computers sold in Vietnam, only 10% are brand-name computers, and the rest are computers assembled from unknown components with no warranty, so the quality is not ensured 3.1.2 Computer market in Vietnam and the prospect after Vietnam joined WTO Computer industry includes hardware and software industry As we only concern about the computer itself in this study, not software, therefore, this section provides an overview of demand for hardware only (in which computer and computer components is a main contribution) According to Vietnam ICT Outlook 2006 by HCA , "IT market value" is domestic IT spending, which includes (i) imports for domestic IT spending; (ii) manufactures for domestic IT spending IT market value includes hardware and software market value, here just mentions hardware market value only http://www.quantrimang.com/view.asp?Cat_ID=2l&news_id=30889 dated Aug 02, 2006 Ho Chi Minh City Computer Association 32 Table Hardware market value in Vietnam 2000-2005 (million USD) Year Value 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 250 280 325 410 545 630 Growth rate (o/o) 12.0 16.1 26.2 32.9 15.6 Source: Vietnam ICT Outlook 2006, Ho Chi Minh City Computer Association The table shows a fast growth through years in hardware demand and computer demand in particular in Vietnam On the other hand, hardware industry (including hardware manufacture for domestic consumption and exports) in 2005 saw its first time passing billion USD (from 760 million USD to 1.15 billion USD) and became one of the industries having the largest exports In hardware manufacture, only 108 million USD was for domestic consumption However, most products were mainly produced by foreign invested companies (FDI companies) in Vietnam for export to other countries 2006 saw the investment of some big computer corporations into Vietnam, such as the !-billion investment project to produce chips and semiconduct components of Intel Domestic companies - especially some Vietnamese leading computer manufacturers - after several fast-growing years, had little growth Two leading companies, FPT E-lead and CMS, in 2005 produced more computers than 2004; however, due to decreasing price, the revenue was only almost the same as 2004 Three biggest computer manufacturers are FPT Elead, CMS and Mekong Green respectively had the revenue of 13.4, 9.3 and 6.0 million USD in 2005 Low income makes households unaffordable for computers as we have discussed, or, computer price is still too high for households After Vietnam joined the WTO in November 2006, tariff bands are expected to lower to between 0% - 33 5%, especially for laptops (from 10% to 0% in 2010) This would reduce the unreasonable differences between the tariff frames existing on computer sets and computer components At first, there have been many arguments that the computer price will be lowered after Vietnam joined WTO because of large foreign company investment into Vietnam and more distribution channels With harsher competition and increase in computer supply, price will be lowered (Mr Than Trong Phuc - Intel Vietnam CEO, 2006 10) Supporting that idea, Mr Tran Hai Nam, CEO of FPT Elead, said that lower tariff on imported computer components would help domestic companies to reduce the cost and then, the computer price will be lower Rapid changes in technology (every 12-18 months) resulting in decreased costs induces manufacturers to reduce price of products of prior technology However, later, computer manufacturers have said that the computer price will not be lowered more Mr Phuc, Intel Vietnam CE0 11 , gave out some reasons: ( 1) Most of components have to be imported and import tax on components at present is 0-5% (CPU, RAM, desktop and software are now 0%, main board 5%), which is already very low and cannot be cut down more; (2) Computer price will even increase because of software copyright Consumers have to pay for copyright pursuant to the Intellectual Property Rights after Vietnam joined WTO To conclude, with such information, we may not expect low mcome households to very soon purchase high quality computers at low price This urges us to have different measures to enhance the computer availability of households 10 11 http://www.thanhnien.com.vn/CNTT/2006/10/10/165425.tno dated Oct 09, 2006 Dan Tri Newspapers dated December 12,2006 34 3.1.3 Some projects that have been carried out to enhance the computer ownership of households Thanh Giong Project Thanh Giong Project, a 1-billion USD project, funded by mobilizing the contribution in the society, is the largest ever project in Vietnam The object of the project is to socialize computerization, i.e to enhance the chance of computer ownership and computer skills of Vietnamese people, especially households in rural areas The project was approved by Prime Minister in 2004, is carried with cooperation of many ministries, enterprises and the Youth Union Thanh Giong Project period is years, with the aim to (1) provide households in rural areas with million good quality and low-price computers (from donation of society, from the preferential price offered by manufacturers, and credit support for poor households); (2) call upon million volunteers to teach computer skills to 20 million youths in Vietnam Manufacturers participating m the project are called "Thanh Giong manufacturers", including FPT Elead and CMS (2 biggest domestic computer manufacturers) and many other domestic manufacturers, Intel Vietnam, and linking members of the project are Seagate, LG Electronics, Samsung, HewlettPackard, Microsoft and VDC A Thanh Giong computer is produced with preferential cost and sold at low price of around million VND, 10% or 20% less than the same type To your attention, similar projects on preferential low price computer manufacture have been carried out successfully in Thailand and Malaysia 35 Box Success of Thanh Giong Project According to Mr Phuc, CEO of Intel Indochina Region, Thanh Giang Project is mainly for households with annual income of 2,000 to 6,000 USD The birth of Thanh Giang computer initiated a new wave of competition on low price computers, which is very beneficial to consumers Many new manufacturers also participate, such as G6, e-Delta, HueTronics and the latest is Vibird This wave has reduced computer price much, about 265-419 USD/computer set, and Vietnamese consumers has more opportunity to own a computer Not only carried in big cities like Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City, the programme quickly spreads to other provinces and cities such as Bac Ninh, Hue, Da Nang, Can Tho, Ca Mau From the first quarter of 2005, Hai Phong, Vinh, Quy Nhon, Nha Trang, Long Xuyen will have access to the Programme The success of Intel in the Thanh Giang Programme in Vietnam is a good example for Intel in other countries to follow As planned in 2005, Intel will carry out similar programmes in 100 countries in the world How about households with annual income less than 2,000 USD? "Intel solution is to provide Internet cafe programme, enabling people in Mekong river Delta, South East, Phu Th9, Thai Nguyen, sac Ninh, Hai Du'dng, Thai Blnh and Ninh Blnh to access internet In 2005, Intel will set up Internet cafes in cultural centers, ward post offices, mobile Internet cafes in order to help the poor who still have not yet got the chance to own a computer, can have access to computer and internet", said Mr Phuc Source: News of Ministry of Trade of Vietnam, March 29, 2005 -Author's translation www mot gov vn/Ven/VBdetail asp ?id=2420 Mv First Computer Project The program "My First Computer" in 2005 was initiated by Intel Vietnam, with the participation of CMS -the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) in Vietnam of Intel, the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), Can Tho University, Vietnam Post and Telecom group (VNPT), Mekong Housing Bank (MHB) and Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) In the program, students, teachers in 10 provmces and cities including Hanoi, Ha Tay, Hai Phong, Hue, Da Nang, Khanh Hoa, Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, Dong Nai and Can Tho, who have the demand for computer purchase but 36 cannot afford, will have the financial support from MHB and ACB with the loan of 6-25 million VND/person The loan duration is 12 months Computers in the program are assembled by domestic companies according to Intel technology and installed softwares for study and research ready to use Source: Vietnam News Agency website http ;jjwww vnagency com vnjTrangChu/VN/tabid/58/itemid/12509 7/Default aspx dated August 31, 2005 http://www.cms.com vn/viejnewsjnewsdetail/?id=23 dated Sep 12, 2005 OneClick and Unlimited Potential Program OneClick program, declared by Bill Gates in April 22, 2006 at Bac Ninh province, is a cooperation between Microsoft, VDC (Vietnam Data transfer and Cable company) and CMS computer manufacturer to enable Vietnamese with mid-income to have the chance to own a computer Buyers can pay the computer in installments, with Windows package and Internet connection VDC through the post offices network nationwide provides the financial support and payment At Bac Ninh, Bill Gates declared about the Project Unlimited Potential The program with the cooperation with USAID and Qualcomm and EVN (Electricity Vietnam group) aims to develop the opportunity of life-long study for disadvantaged children, build community technology centers and provide CDMA450 and free internet use for 64 provinces and cities throughout Vietnam Source: Vietnam Economic Times dated 24/04/2006 To conclude, by looking at the programs and projects by the government and companies as shown, product series that should be focused on are the ones suitable for consumers, especially low and medium income consumers, throughout provinces and cities besides Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh city, especially desktop computers because it is a very potential market in the future 37 3.2 Descriptive analysis on factors affecting computer ownership of households in Vietnam in VLSS 2004 Following an overview of the computer market, this section will provide descriptive analysis on factors affecting the computer ownership of households in Vietnam based on the VLSS 2004 data The data taken in VLSS 2004, as mentioned in Chapter Introduction, just includes 9188 observations surveyed both income and expenditure Because in the econometric analysis, we take the household expenditure instead of household income (as explained in the econometric model specification) After excluding some missing values and data not surveyed by interviewers, we have 9177 observations left Some characteristics of households - including household characteristics and household's head characteristics~ that affect their computer ownership will be presented, factor by factor Table Mean of characteristics by groups of ownership and non-ownership Household characteristics Ownership Nonownership Household monthly expenditure per capita (thousand VND) 945.38 373.29 Household size (persons) 4.53 4.40 Household head's age (years) 49.83 49.05 Source: VLSS 2004, author's calculation in Stata We take the household expenditure per capita as a representative of household income per capita As we can see in Table 4, the mean of monthly expenditure per capita of households with a home computer, 945,380 VND is 2.5 times higher than the mean of expenditure of households without a computer, 38 373,290 VND This means income actually has a significant positive effect on the computer ownership of households We can see it clearer in the following table: Table Percentage of households owning a computer by income quintile Quintile Quintile Quintile Quintile Quintile 0.20 0.59 1.09 3.95 19.57 Source: VLSS 2004, GSO calculation Household size of household group owning a computer is slightly bigger than that of household group without a computer (the mean of household size respectively are 4.53 compared to 4.40) It implies that the more persons residing in a household may have a positive effect on the computer ownership of a household because the demand for computer in that household is higher, however, this is only a slight effect Household head's age of the two groups of households is nearly the same Based on these descriptive statistics, we may not expect that age can have significant determinant on household computer ownership The next factor is household head's education attainment Table is the groups of households by highest education qualification The group of households that the head has higher education attainment has the higher ownership percentage The effect shows to be very strong Only 1%, 2% and 4% of people without qualification or graduated from primary or secondary school respectively have a computer in their house, meanwhile, these number are 22% and 36% for college and university graduates groups However, attention should be paid to the fact that these groups are of very different sizes, the group of secondary school and less accounts for 83% of all observations, while college/university and postgraduate group accounts for only 4.36% of all observations 39 Table Computer ownership by groups of households with head's education highest qualification Ownership Head's highest qualification Frequency Non-ownership Percent Frequency (1) Ns> q~c::~lif.igc::~!is>r1 P.ri.rJ::l.?.EY §~hSJ.