Regional Heterogeneity And Influencing Factors Of Residents' Financial Awareness:A Study Based On Internet Search Behavior

The rapid economic and social development depend on the rapid development of the financial industry and the vigorous improvement of residents' financial awareness.A high level of resident financial awareness is of great significance to the orderly development of the financial industry as well as the security and stability of the entire society.At present,the analysis of the influencing factors of residents' financial awareness in academia is more based on the micro-survey results based on the questionnaire of resident's financial awareness,and little analysis of the influencing factors and influencing mechanism of financial awareness is from the perspective of financial environment and macroeconomic factors.The financial awareness of residents is measured through the Internet search index,which reduces the cost of investigation,improves the efficiency of investigation and analyzes the factors that affect the financial awareness of residents from a macro and regional perspective.First of all,the feasibility of measuring the financial awareness of residents through online search behavior is verified through theoretical analysis.Method of online search index in epidemiology is applied in this dissertation and the Baidu search index of keywords is obtained through crawler software to measure the level of financial awareness of residents in 31 provinces in China from four dimensions.Next,in the empirical research,a certain degree of spatial heterogeneity and spatial agglomeration in the financial awareness of residents is proved through spatial autocorrelation tests.Therefore,geographical factors are considered in the empirical model,a series of dynamic spatial panel model are applied in the empirically test.According to the results of empirical research,it could be found that there is a significant positive correlation between residents' financial awareness and regional financial development.The result is proved to be robust.This correlation is particularly significant in the eastern region.In addition,financial awareness of residents in 31 provinces in China is affected by some macro-socioeconomic factors,but the influencing factors and degrees of influence vary from region to region.Therefore,it could be found that governments and financial institutions in the central and western regions need to pay more attention in raising residents' financial awareness.In terms of different dimensions,the level of financial development has the most significant positive impact on the public's attention to keywords related to financial products,but not to the awareness of macro financial environment,capital demand,and risk prevention.Therefore,governments and financial institutions need to lean towards the three aspects in organizing activities to increase residents' financial awareness.Only in these ways,residents' financial awareness could be comprehensively enhanced and the safety of residents' funds could be guaranteed.The application of the web search index is applied in economic research and a new way to measure residents' financial awareness is found in the dissertation.Compared with the traditional form of survey based on financial awareness questionnaire,the method of online search index could reflect the financial awareness of residents in an easier and more timely way.Therefore,government's grasp of public sentiment could be facilitated and corresponding political measures could be timely taken according to the changes.Based on these measures,the government could ensure the orderly operation of financial market and social prosperity and stability in China.