The Impact Of Digital Economy Development On The Urban-rural Income Gap In The Yangtze River Delta

The 14th Five Year Plan proposes to comprehensively promote the rural revitalization strategy,in order to promote the two-way flow of factors between urban and rural areas,and gradually eliminate the development gap between urban and rural areas.As a new form of promoting economic growth,the digital economy provides efficient and convenient information resources for rural economic development,thereby promoting the two-way flow of urban-rural factors,breaking the shackles of rural development,and providing opportunities for promoting rural economic development and narrowing the urban-rural income gap.The Yangtze River Delta,as the most active and largest digital economy in China,has a large urban-rural income gap and the urban-rural income gap is higher than the national average.Studying the impact of digital economy development on urban-rural income gap in this region has important reference significance for improving the coordinated development of urban and rural areas and achieving common prosperity.This article is based on relevant data of 41 cities in the Yangtze River Delta of China from 2011 to 2020.Principal component analysis and Theil index are used to calculate the development level of the digital economy and urban-rural income gap in the Yangtze River Delta.On this basis,a two-way fixed effects model is constructed for empirical analysis and research.The instrumental variable method is used to handle endogeneity problems,and the core explanatory variable is replaced,and the2020 value is removed GMM dynamic panel and tail shrinking treatment shall be tested for robustness.This article also conducts heterogeneity analysis from three perspectives: regional attributes,central peripheral cities,and internet penetration rate,to explore the differential impact of digital economy development in the Yangtze River Delta on urban-rural income gap.Finally,a mechanism analysis is conducted on the regulatory role of labor employment structure and educational resources.Research findings:(1)During the research period,the development level of digital economy in various cities in the Yangtze River Delta showed an upward trend,and the urban-rural income gap continued to narrow.(2)In the analysis of the bidirectional fixed effects model,the development of the digital economy in the Yangtze River Delta has significantly reduced the urban-rural income gap.(3)In the analysis of regional heterogeneity,from the perspective of province division,the development of digital economy in Zhejiang and Anhui provinces has significantly reduced the urban-rural income gap.From the perspective of center peripheral city division,the development of digital economy in peripheral cities helps to narrow the urban-rural income gap.From the perspective of internet penetration rate,improving the level of digital economy development in low network coverage areas can effectively narrow the urban-rural income gap.(4)In the analysis of the mechanism of labor employment structure and the regulatory role of educational resources,the higher the degree of development of the digital economy in the Yangtze River Delta,the higher the proportion of employees in the secondary industry.The better the educational resources,the more significant the impact of the digital economy development in the Yangtze River Delta on narrowing the urban-rural income gap.Based on this,this article obtains policy insights from the following aspects:(1)Promoting digital economic reform and improving the development level of rural digital economy.(2)Strengthen the construction of rural digital infrastructure,especially in peripheral cities and low network coverage areas.(3)Strengthen the coordinated development between the Yangtze River Delta region and narrow the urban-rural income gap within the region.(4)Pay attention to the development of rural digital environment and strengthen the construction of digital talent team.