Research On The Impact Of Digital Divide On Farmers’ Credit Constraints

China’s Internet industry has seen a remarkable surge in development in recent years,with remarkable achievements in the construction of new infrastructure,continuous innovation in key core technologies,and accelerated implementation of information technology integration and application.The national cyber development strategy’s strategic concept has propelled the infrastructure building of China’s Internet industry to a new level.The digital economy has become an important engine to boost China’s economic growth.In the process of the vigorous development of the digital economy,the digital divide,a new type of unbalanced development problem,arises at the historic moment.In rural areas of China,rural residents are faced with serious credit constraints due to the backward construction of digital infrastructure,the insufficient use of digital technology skills of residents,and the unsound credit system of rural financial institutions.This paper summarizes the current academic literature on the digital divide and credit constraints,and finds that the research on the consequences and effects of the digital divide is still scarce.The research on the specific relationship and mechanism of the digital divide and credit constraints is only limited to some perspectives,and most of the research focuses on countries or provinces and other regions as the research objects of the digital divide or credit constraints,and lacks the research from the micro perspective of the family.Therefore,based on the research results of scholars at home and abroad,this paper discusses the consequences and impacts of the digital divide from a micro perspective,enriches and expands the research framework of credit constraint factors,and brings new enlightenment for the sustainable and healthy development of the digital economy.In the empirical analysis,based on the data of the China Household Finance Survey in 2021,this paper divides the digital divide into two dimensions:instrument-based and use-based,constructs the digital divide index,and finds that the digital divide can significantly increase the possibility of farmers being subject to credit constraints,and from the perspective of channels,the digital divide has a more significant impact on easing informal credit constraints.Further,this paper selects the coverage of mobile phone base stations as a tool variable to solve the endogenous problems such as missing variables and self-selection bias,and tests the robustness of the empirical results by replacing the measurement method of the digital divide and the definition index of credit constraints.Heterogeneity analysis shows that narrowing the digital divide has a more significant impact on easing the credit constraints of the elderly,low-income and high-income groups in rural areas and the western region.The mechanism analysis shows that the digital divide increases the possibility of farmers being constrained by credit by increasing risk aversion and reducing information attention.Based on the above empirical results,this paper draws the following four conclusions:(1)Reducing the digital divide can significantly alleviate the credit constraints on farmers;(2)The impact of the digital divide on different channels of credit is different;(3)The impact of the digital divide on the credit constraints of farmers shows certain subject differences and regional differences;(4)The digital divide aggravates farmers’ credit constraints by increasing risk aversion and reducing information attention.In response,this paper proposes specific suggestions to increase the construction of the digital economy and narrow the digital divide in rural areas to alleviate credit constraints for farmers.First,comprehensively strengthen the construction of rural network infrastructure and promote the digital transformation of rural infrastructure.The second is to improve the digital financial literacy of rural residents and build a new pattern of digital rural development that is in line with the knowledge structure of rural population.The third is to enrich digital rural financial products and services,and continuously improve the adaptability of rural credit funds.