Research On The Impact Of Digital Inclusive Finance On Multidimensional Relative Poverty Of The Elderly

In 2020,China eliminated absolute poverty and began to step into the stage of solid promotion of common prosperity.However,the imbalance and inadequacy of China’s economic and social development determine that solving multidimensional relative poverty is an insurmountable stage in the process of achieving the goal of common prosperity.The solution of multidimensional relative poverty needs to pay more attention to the survival,development and social welfare of vulnerable groups.The elderly population is one of the most important vulnerable groups in the context of the deepening aging and aging society in China at this stage.Accordingly,the multidimensional relative poverty of the elderly population has become a very critical social issue after the comprehensive construction of a well-off society in 2020.The elderly population is faced with internal poverty factors such as lower income level,poorer health status,decline in self-development ability and cognitive ability,and external poverty factors such as incomplete social pension and medical security system,resulting in the elderly population more easily falling into multidimensional relative poverty compared with other age groups.The report of the 20 th National Congress of the Communist Party of China pointed out that Chinese path to modernization is the modernization of common prosperity for all people.Therefore,preventing and resolving the multidimensional relative poverty of the elderly population is not only conducive to the implementation of China’s national strategy to actively respond to aging,but also an inevitable requirement of "making more and more equitable reform and development achievements benefit all people" under the goal of common prosperity.Finance is an indispensable and important part of poverty alleviation and development strategy.China actively advocates and develops inclusive finance,aiming at providing more social groups with affordable and sustainable financial services.Digital inclusive finance is the product of traditional inclusive finance in the digital era,with stronger sharing,inclusiveness and inclusiveness,and can improve the convenience of financial services for the elderly,Broadening investment and financing channels for the elderly,providing diversified risk management means,reducing information asymmetry and moral hazard in financial services,and promoting inclusive economic growth have become one of the important means to help solve the multidimensional relative poverty of the elderly.However,due to the negative impact of the digital divide in terms of the difference in access to the Internet infrastructure,the difference in the use of the Internet by the elderly population and the difference in the knowledge and ability of the elderly population,the elderly population has suffered from digital exclusion and financial exclusion in the digital era,which has inhibited the play of the poverty reduction effect of digital inclusive finance.Therefore,in the era of the convergence of aging and digitalization,it is of positive significance to explore the impact of digital inclusive finance on the multidimensional relative poverty of the elderly population,and clarify the regulatory role of the digital divide for the elderly to actively adapt to the digital society,enjoy digital inclusive financial services,bridge the digital divide for the elderly,enable the digital inclusive finance to help the elderly to alleviate poverty,and improve the well-being of the elderly population.This paper takes the impact of digital inclusive finance on the multidimensional relative poverty of the elderly population as the research theme,follows the applied economics research idea of "theoretical carding-fact description-empirical research-countermeasures and suggestions",and uses three research methods of literature analysis,empirical analysis and comparative analysis to carry out the research.First,clearly define the core concepts and relevant theoretical basis involved in the research process of this paper,Explain the direct and indirect mechanism of digital inclusive finance affecting the multidimensional relative poverty of the elderly.Secondly,a systematic and comprehensive factual description of the development of China’s digital inclusive finance,the multidimensional relative poverty of the elderly population,and the impact of digital inclusive finance on the multidimensional relative poverty of the elderly population.Thirdly,using the data from the Peking University Digital Inclusive Finance Index and the China Health and Elderly Care Tracking Survey,the paper empirically analyzes the direct and indirect impact of digital inclusive finance on the multidimensional relative poverty of the elderly population,and finally puts forward policy recommendations to give play to the positive role of digital inclusive finance in the multidimensional relative poverty of the elderly population.After comprehensive and in-depth argumentation,this paper draws the following conclusions:First,based on the national strategic background of China’s solid promotion of common prosperity and active response to population aging,it has borrowed and expanded the multi-dimensional relative poverty theory and built a measurement system that includes five dimensions of income,health,social security,education and living environment to accurately measure the multi-dimensional relative poverty of China’s elderly population,It is found that the incidence of multi-dimensional relative poverty and the multi-dimensional relative poverty index of the elderly population in China have shown a trend of dynamic reduction over time,and the situation of multi-dimensional relative poverty has been gradually alleviated and improved,and there are regional and group differences in the degree of multi-dimensional relative poverty of the elderly population in China.The decomposition based on the multidimensional relative poverty index shows that the education dimension has the highest contribution rate to the multidimensional relative poverty of the elderly population,followed by the income dimension,the physical and mental health dimension,and the living environment dimension has the lowest contribution rate.Second,digital inclusive finance can affect the multidimensional relative poverty of the elderly population through direct and indirect mechanisms.In terms of the direct action mechanism,digital inclusive finance directly affects the multidimensional relative poverty of the elderly population by influencing the income,health,social security,education and living conditions of the elderly population.Further mathematical models also show that digital inclusive finance can directly alleviate the multidimensional relative poverty by increasing capital investment and mitigating risk impact.In terms of indirect mechanism,digital inclusive finance can reduce transaction costs,alleviate information asymmetry and reduce mortgage guarantee requirements,thus improving the credit availability of the elderly population.At the same time,digital inclusive finance can increase the investment convenience,promote the access to financial information and improve the level of risk taking,thus improving the asset availability of the elderly population,The improvement of credit availability and asset availability has finally alleviated the multidimensional relative poverty of the elderly population.However,the existence of the digital divide in the elderly has reduced the economic opportunities of the elderly,inhibited the right to participate in social activities,caused relative deprivation and digital exclusion,and weakened the play of the poverty reduction effect of digital inclusive finance.Thirdly,based on the China Health and Pension Tracking Survey and the unbalanced panel data of the Peking University Digital Inclusive Finance Index in 2011,2013,2015 and 2018,this paper empirically tests the direct and indirect impact of digital inclusive finance on the multidimensional relative poverty of the elderly population.In terms of direct impact,digital inclusive finance can significantly reduce the probability of elderly people falling into multi-dimensional relative poverty and the degree of multi-dimensional relative poverty.Among them,the impact of depth of use is the largest,followed by the impact of coverage,and the impact of digital degree is not significant.Digital inclusive finance can significantly reduce the relative poverty of the elderly in the dimensions of income,health,social security and living environment,but it has no significant impact on the relative poverty in the dimensions of education.At the same time,the alleviation effect of digital inclusive finance on the multidimensional relative poverty of the elderly population shows a weakening trend with the deepening of poverty,and the poverty reduction effect of digital inclusive finance has heterogeneity among individuals,families and regions.In terms of indirect impact,digital inclusive finance alleviates the multidimensional relative poverty of the elderly population by improving the availability of credit and assets,but the existence of the digital divide in the elderly has weakened the alleviation effect of digital inclusive finance on the multidimensional relative poverty of the elderly population,in which the use gap has the greatest impact on the multidimensional relative poverty of the elderly population,and the use gap has the largest negative adjustment effect,followed by the knowledge gap and access gap,Further research found that the more complete the digital infrastructure,the better the family digital feedback and the more active the social interaction,the less negative the adjustment of the digital divide in the elderly.Fourth,based on the fact description and empirical test results,this paper puts forward policy recommendations to give full play to the positive role of digital inclusive finance in the multidimensional relative poverty of the elderly population.First of all,establish a country-level multidimensional relative poverty measurement system for the elderly and a detailed regional or group measurement system to achieve accurate identification of the elderly poor.At the same time,the governance of multidimensional relative poverty for the elderly needs to coordinate with various national policies;Secondly,we will continue to promote the orderly and healthy development of digital inclusive finance,expand the coverage of digital inclusive finance,implement the precise implementation of the classification of digital inclusive finance,and improve the regulatory system of digital inclusive finance.Thirdly,improve the willingness and ability of the elderly to use digital inclusive finance,focus on improving the trust of the elderly in digital inclusive finance,promote the deep integration and development of digital inclusive finance and traditional finance,innovate the "online+offline" service model suitable for the elderly,pay attention to the demand scenario of financial services for the elderly,and strengthen the innovation of aging digital financial products and services;Finally,multiple entities should participate in the governance of the digital divide for the elderly,and bridge the digital divide for the elderly by speeding up the construction of digital infrastructure,building an age-friendly digital society and improving the digital financial literacy of the elderly.The innovation of this paper is mainly reflected in the following three aspects: First,improve and expand the theoretical mechanism of digital inclusive finance affecting the multidimensional relative poverty of the elderly population.Based on the theoretical analysis of the direct impact of digital inclusive finance on the multidimensional relative poverty of the elderly population and the particularity of the elderly population,the relationship between digital inclusive finance and the multidimensional relative poverty of the elderly population is described with a generalized input-output model.On the one hand,digital inclusive finance can increase the capital input of the elderly population and improve the output.The increase of output means the alleviation of poverty.On the other hand,The elderly population is vulnerable to risk shocks from health,consumption and other aspects.Digital inclusive finance can mitigate the losses caused by risk shocks,prevent the elderly population from falling into multidimensional relative poverty,and clarify the internal logical relationship between the two.Secondly,it systematically and comprehensively tested the impact of digital inclusive finance on the multidimensional relative poverty of the elderly population.This paper will match the macro prefecture-level digital inclusive finance index with the micro multi-dimensional relative poverty index of the elderly population,and explore whether the digital inclusive finance can alleviate the multi-dimensional relative poverty of the elderly population.Among them,the measurement of the multi-dimensional relative poverty of the elderly population is a key.This paper takes the "feasible ability" as the core,comprehensively considers the endowment characteristics of the elderly population and the economic goal of high-quality development at this stage,Build an appropriate multidimensional relative poverty measurement index system,so as to accurately evaluate the multidimensional relative poverty situation of the elderly population in China in the new era,and provide factual reference for the prevention and governance of poverty among the elderly population.On the basis of measurement,this paper examines whether the total index of digital inclusion and its first-level dimensions can alleviate the multidimensional relative poverty of the elderly population,and further considers the heterogeneity of individuals,families and regions.Finally,it discusses the indirect role of digital inclusion finance in alleviating the multidimensional relative poverty of the elderly population from the two levels of credit availability and asset availability.Third,the issue of the digital divide for the elderly should be included in the research framework of the impact of digital inclusive finance on the multidimensional relative poverty of the elderly population.In the context of the national strategy of building a digital China and actively responding to the aging of the population,this paper constructs a digital gap index for the elderly,including the access gap,the use gap and the knowledge gap,to quantitatively measure the digital gap faced by the elderly population groups in the digital society,and to achieve an accurate and targeted measurement of the digital gap from macro to micro individuals,And in the process of empirical research on the impact of digital inclusive finance on the multidimensional relative poverty of the elderly population,explore the regulatory effect of the digital divide in the elderly,analyze how the digital divide in the elderly affects the poverty reduction effect of digital inclusive finance,and analyze how to alleviate the negative regulatory effect of the digital divide in the elderly from the perspective of digital infrastructure,family digital feedback and social interaction,and then eliminate the digital divide in the elderly,Promote the integration of the elderly into the digital society.