Research On The Influence Of Mobile Payment On Household Consumption Relative Deprivation

Household consumption reflects the real welfare of a household,while household consumption inequality reflects the real welfare gap between households.In-depth research on household consumption inequality can not only depict economic inequality more deeply,but also help policymakers formulate more scientific and reasonable social welfare policies.In the theoretical analysis part,based on mental account theory,liquidity constraint theory and social capital theory,this thesis carries out a more detailed theoretical analysis of the causal relationship between mobile payment and household-level consumption inequality(that is,relative deprivation of household consumption).Theoretical analysis shows that mobile payment mainly promotes low-consumption household consumption through budget expansion effect,linkage weakening effect,and liquidity constraint mitigation effect,and then reduces consumption inequality at the household level(that is,relative deprivation of household consumption).Mobile payments also further reduce household-level consumption inequality(i.e.,relative deprivation of household consumption)by boosting household social capital.In the empirical analysis part,this thesis uses the relative deprivation of household consumption Kakwani index to measure consumption inequality at the micro household level,and based on CHFS 2019 data,a more normative empirical test is carried out on the causal relationship between mobile payment and relative deprivation of household consumption.The results show that mobile payment significantly reduces the relative deprivation of household consumption,and the results obtained by using the propensity score matching method and instrumental variable method to solve the endogenous problem are still robust.Further analysis shows that for different geographical locations,different household characteristics,and different consumption categories,the role of mobile payment in alleviating the relative deprivation of household consumption is heterogeneous.Mechanism analysis shows that mobile payment mainly reduces the relative deprivation of household consumption by alleviating household mobility constraints and promoting household social capital.The marginal contribution of this thesis lies in the refinement of research perspectives and the optimization of measurement indicators.In terms of research perspective,the existing literature mainly studies consumption inequality at the regional or group level,and rarely studies consumption inequality at the micro household level.This thesis studies the impact of mobile payment on household consumption inequality from the micro-household level,reveals the micro-mechanism behind it,and refines the research perspective.In terms of measurement indicators,the existing literature mainly uses Gini coefficient,Thiel index and other indicators to measure consumption inequality,these indicators can only measure consumption inequality at the regional or group level,but can not measure consumption inequality at the household level.In this thesis,the Kakwani index of relative deprivation of household consumption can not only reflect consumption inequality at group and regional levels,but also measure consumption inequality at household level,and optimize the measurement index.The policy implication of this thesis is to improve digital infrastructure and further promote the popularization of mobile payment on the basis of focusing on the security of mobile payment,especially in less developed regions.