Research On The Impact Of Digital Inclusive Finance On The Income Gap Of Rural Resident

Narrowing the gap between the rich and the poor and achieving common prosperity have been the important goals pursued in the process of China’s modernization.Since the reform and opening up,the income level of rural residents in China has been continuously improved,and the fight against poverty has also achieved a comprehensive victory.However,the gap between the rich and the poor in rural areas still cannot be ignored because of the imbalance and inadequacy in the development process.The large income gap of rural residents is not conducive to the long-term and stable development of China’s society.Therefore,how to narrow the income gap of rural residents and achieve common prosperity has become a major problem.The concept of digital inclusive finance is to use digital technology to improve the inclusive financial system,expand the scope of financial services,help poor farmers improve their income status,and thus narrowing the income gap of Chinese residents.However,at present,there are still some problems in the development of digital inclusive finance in China,for example,uneven regional development,imperfect digital infrastructure construction.These may lead to the inability of digital inclusive finance to effectively narrow the income gap of rural residents.At present,the construction of digital inclusive finance system has become a major development strategy in China.In this context,this paper will deeply analyze whether and how digital inclusive finance affects the income gap of rural residents.Based on the existing research,this paper focuses on the impact of digital inclusive finance on the income gap of rural residents.First,it reviews the relevant literature at home and abroad from three aspects,summarizes the existing research results,and makes comments.This work provides ideas for the research content of this paper.Second,it introduces the four core theories related to the content of this study and the impact mechanism of digital inclusive finance on the income gap of rural residents,and proposes the hypothesis that digital inclusive finance through breaking the threshold effect,reducing poverty effect and trickle-down effect could effectively reduce the income gap of rural residents.Finally,selecting the digital inclusive finance index measured by Peking University and the Gini coefficient of rural residents income as the core explanatory variable and interpreted variable,respectively,this paper uses the panel data of 31 provinces in China from 2011 to 2020 to construct a two-way fixed effect model for benchmark regression analysis to examine the impact of digital inclusive finance on the income gap of rural residents at the national level.Moreover,sub-dimension and region heterogeneity analysis is conducted.The results show that at the national level,digital inclusive finance could significantly converge the income gap of rural residents;regarding the estimated results of three sub-dimensions,coverage,depth of use and digital level could all play a role in narrowing the income gap of rural residents,of which coverage has the largest impact,followed by depth of use and digital level.Yet,there are differences in the estimated results of different regions.The total index of digital inclusive finance,the depth of use and the breadth of coverage in eastern China could promote the reduction of the income gap of rural residents;at the central region,the total index of digital inclusive finance cannot effectively narrow the income gap of rural residents,but the coverage can play a role in reducing the income gap of rural residents;at the western region,the total index of digital inclusive finance and the three sub-dimensions have not played a significant role in narrowing the income gap of rural residents.Based on the conclusions of this paper,the following suggestions are proposed: first,we should continue to deepen the construction of the digital inclusive financial system;second,we should look for different driving points from coverage,depth of use,and digital level;third,digital inclusive finance according to local conditions should be developed to promote regional differentiation development strategy;fourth,the popularization of digital inclusive financial knowledge should be promoted to improve residents financial literacy.