Abstract
Strong digital skills are essential for people from all backgrounds. However, low-income families often face a digital divide that limits their access to technology and its effective use. This is likely to create barriers to adult employability and may hinder parental support for children's education. Despite the policy relevance, there is a lack of research addressing how to overcome these difficulties. Our project investigates the causal impact of simultaneously addressing economic barriers to technology adoption and improving digital skills on marginalized households' human capital and labor market outcomes. We employ a randomized controlled trial involving 859 low-income families with school-aged children in Turin, Italy. Participating parents receive a tablet with free internet access and attend digital literacy classes. The intervention largely raises technology adoption and greatly improves digital skills. Furthermore, it increases parents' engagement with their children in the digital world and their self-efficacy. It raises indicators of social inclusion, while behaviors related to labor market outcomes are unaffected. A mediation analysis confirms that digital skills are a relevant channel for the improvement of welfare outcomes.