Abstract Internet service is considered by many to be essential, yet many households do not have a home Internet connection. Survey evidence suggests a lack of interest is the primary explanation, but some policymakers and advocates prefer to label price as the dominant factor, thereby laying the groundwork for policy interventions, regulation, and subsidies. Most surveys on the reasons for non-adoption are, however, inherently ambiguous and do not permit useful inferences because the typical questions asked cannot distinguish between “relevance” or “price” as the cause of non-adoption. Exploiting data from latest Census Bureau survey, I show that responses appearing to speak to relevance or price always speak to relevance and price. I then propose a simple modification to the Census Bureau survey that permits the construction of the non-users demand curve for Internet service including its curvature, thereby offering important information to policymakers in addressing the role of price in increasing Internet adoption.

中文翻译：

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混淆相关性和价格：解释和改进关于互联网不采用的调查

摘要 Internet 服务被许多人认为是必不可少的，但许多家庭没有家庭 Internet 连接。调查证据表明，缺乏兴趣是主要原因，但一些政策制定者和倡导者更愿意将价格标记为主导因素，从而为政策干预、监管和补贴奠定基础。然而，大多数关于不采用原因的调查本质上是模棱两可的，不允许进行有用的推论，因为所提出的典型问题无法区分“相关性”或“价格”作为不采用的原因。利用最新人口普查局调查的数据，我表明似乎与相关性或价格相关的回答总是与相关性和价格相关。