Research On The Impact Of Digital Economy Development On Urban-rural Income Gap

Affected by the dual economic structure of urban and rural areas and the long-term influence of urban-biased policies,China’s economic development has also led to the problem of excessive urban-rural income gap,which is not only detrimental to the sustainable and healthy development of the economy,but also easily breeds many social problems.With the increasingly prominent role of information elements in social production,the status of the digital economy in the national economy is becoming more and more important,and the development of the digital economy has become the general trend.In 2021,the scale of China’s digital economy have reached 39.2 trillion yuan,and the growth rate is several times higher than that of GDP in the same period.The development prospect of digital economy is very promising.However,with the rapid development of the digital economy,Our focus should not only be on its "quantity" growth,but also on its "quality" development.While the digital economy has achieved rapid development,has it overcome the urban-rural differences existing in the traditional economic growth model and improved the urban-rural income gap,that is,has the digital dividend generated by the development of the digital economy achieved universal sharing between urban and rural areas? These become issues worthy of exploring.Based on the above thinking,this thesis conducts research on the following three levels: Firstly,through literature review and theoretical analysis,to find the theoretical basis for the impact of the development of the digital economy on the income gap between urban and rural residents,and to discuss the specific impact of the former on the latter,and it is found that the development of digital economy will have a comprehensive impact on the income gap between urban and rural areas in both positive and negative directions;Secondly,this thesis studies and analyzes the status quo of digital economy and urban-rural income gap respectively,introduces and analyzes the development history and status quo of digital economy in China and the status quo of urban-rural income gap,and finds that while our country’s digital economy has achieved rapid development,it also faces the problem of unbalanced regional development;Thirdly,an empirical analysis of the influence of digital economy development on urban-rural income gap is carried out: in the first place,a comprehensive evaluation system for the development level of the digital economy is constructed from three dimensions of digital infrastructure,digital industry development and digital application,and the digital economy development index at the provincial level in China is further calculated by the entropy method,to obtain the core explanatory variables in the regression analysis;in the next place,China’s digital economy development has entered a mature stage since 2013.This thesis uses a fixed effect model to analyze the panel data at the provincial level in China from 2013 to 2019.The regression results show that:(1)The development of digital economy has enlarged the income gap between urban and rural areas in China;(2)The impact of the digital economy on the urban-rural income gap has regional heterogeneity,showing an expanding effect in the eastern and central regions,and a narrowing effect in the western region;(3)The development of digital economy has a greater effect on the income increase of residents in urban areas than in rural areas,and the digital economic dividend is more inclined to cities.Finally,according to the conclusion of the thesis,the corresponding policy suggestions are put forward,that is,in the current process of digital economy development,we should pay attention to its negative impact on the income gap between urban and rural residents,and guide the development of digital economy to coordinate with the development of urban-rural integration by solving the problem of the digital divide,promoting the coordinated development of the economy,improving the income distribution system,developing digital inclusive finance,and creating an environment conducive to the development of the digital economy,guide the development of the digital economy in coordination with the integrated development of urban and rural areas.