| As China’s economic development enters the stage of high-quality development,the impact of digital elements in driving economic and social development has become increasingly prominent.The rapid development of a series of information technologies,such as the Internet,big data,machine learning,distributed ledger,blockchain,and so on,has brought new opportunities for economic development in the new era,affecting all aspects of production and life,especially the impact on China’s financial services industry.However,it is inescapable that the Internet has brought about uncertainty and the digital divide has brought about the disparity between the rich and the poor,as well as the problem of equity.At present,the main contradiction in China’s society has been transformed into "the contradiction between the people’s growing needs for a better life and unbalanced and insufficient development".Relying on the advantage of the"Internet+platform",digital financial inclusion has solved the problem of lack of financial services caused by geographic factors and the "last mile" problem of financial inclusion.However,it remains to be seen whether digital financial inclusion can help promote balanced economic development.2021 General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out in his article "Solidly Promoting Common Wealth" that "the new round of scientific and technological revolutions and industrial changes have given a strong impetus to economic development,and have also brought about profound impacts on employment and income distribution,including some negative impacts,which need to be effectively countered and resolved".The rapid development of digital financial inclusion has reduced the reliance on physical outlets,i.e.to a certain extent solved the "accessibility barrier" to basic financial services,but at the same time increased the reliance on information and communication infrastructure.Digital literacy and financial literacy are both important constraints on the effectiveness of digital financial inclusion.However,the digital and financial literacy of the "last mile" population has not been addressed with technological advances.Based on this,it is necessary and urgent to explore the impact of digital financial inclusion on economic inequality and its mechanism of action.At the same time,taking into account the realities and characteristics of digital financial inclusion,the study of specific measures to effectively guide digital financial inclusion to play a positive role and curb its adverse effects will also help explore new paths to promote balanced economic development.After comprehensively combing through relevant studies,it is found that scholars generally believe that digital financial inclusion in China can realize high-quality development by promoting the rational distribution of factors,but there is a lack of relevant empirical analyses and systematic discussions.A part of scholars analyzed the impact of digital financial inclusion from the perspective of the urban-rural income gap,which is a micro manifestation of economic inequity,and found that digital financial inclusion may reduce the gap in some regions,but some studies found that the digital divide problem leads to the Matthew effect,and the development of digital financial inclusion will widen the income gap,and this impact may be non-linear.A part of the scholars analyzed the impact of digital financial inclusion on common wealth also got similar conclusions.Although some scholars have studied the impact of digital financial inclusion on the economic gap between the east and west of Heihe-Tengchong Line,few scholars have paid attention to the problem of economic inequality within the province.This paper focuses on "digital financial inclusion" and "intra-provincial economic inequality",which enriches the study of digital financial inclusion on economic inequality.This paper first focuses on the relevant theories of digital financial inclusion and economic inequity,and combs through the characteristics of digital financial inclusion,and analyses the impact of digital financial inclusion on the macro-economy.Digital financial inclusion is constrained by the "digital divide" but at the same time has the advantage of "geographic separation" and follows Metcalfe’s Law of Internet Value Creation.Both the theory of regional economics and the practice of economic development have confirmed the inevitability of economic imbalance.With China’s economy shifting to the stage of high-quality development,there is an urgent need to fully understand the problem of economic inequity and to shift to balanced development by resolving the relevant problems in order to achieve the goal of long-term healthy economic development.The match between the financial structure and the economy and society represents the effectiveness of financial services to the real economy and also affects the impact of digital financial inclusion on intra-provincial economic inequity.The development of digital financial inclusion will widen the differences in digital and financial literacy among different groups of people,and the resulting siphon effect and digital divide will widen intra-provincial economic inequity.The impact of digital financial inclusion on intra-provincial economic inequality will be moderated depending on whether or not inclusive policies can solve the uncertainties caused by the Internet and reduce the wealth gap and equity difficulties caused by the digital divide.Based on the theoretical analysis,taking into account the fact that having similar humanities,geography,and factors of production within provinces as the research unit is more in line with the ethical premise of the implementation of digital financial inclusion to solve regional inequality.The areas of Hong Kong,Macao,and Taiwan having unique economic development patterns,as well as the four provinces of Qinghai,Xinjiang,Tibet,and Hainan with a significant number of missing variables,are not included in this paper.The population-weighted coefficient method constructed by Williamson is applied to measure the intra-provincial economic inequality.This method allows the original empirical analysis of 23 provincial samples to expand to using sample data from 277 prefectural cities for analysis,which significantly improves the accuracy of the empirical evidence,and helps to analyze the impact and mechanism of digital financial inclusion on the problem of intra-provincial economic inequality.Applying econometrics,such as the panel fixed-effects model,DIF-GMM estimation,instrumental variable method,threshold effect model,nonlinear least squares estimation,moderating effect,and difference in difference method et cetera,to the economic data of 23 provinces from 2011 to 2019 allows for the empirical testing of the relationship between the two and the intrinsic mechanism of action.The main conclusions of the empirical analyses are as follows:(1)Digital financial inclusion exacerbates intra-provincial economic inequality;(2)The exacerbating effect of digital financial inclusion on intra-provincial economic inequality is gradually converging;(3)The digital financial inclusion exacerbates the intra-provincial economic inequality by reinforcing the advantages of the development of the first city,but also reduces the intra-provincial economic inequality by boosting the domestic demand for consumption and promoting the development of e-commerce circulation;(4)The information and communication technology(ICT)has the ability to mitigate the effect of digital financial inclusion on intra-provincial economic inequality,and the proliferation of mobile phones and Internet broadband both assist in eradicating the equity issues caused by the digital divide,effectively reducing the contribution of digital financial inclusion to the growth of intra-provincial economic inequality;(5)Although the implementation of the strategy of strong provincial capitals in the provinces has a greater impact on the role of digital financial inclusion in exacerbating intra-provincial economic inequality,this strategy can help growth poles generate spillover effects thanks to the power of administrative power,thereby converging the role of digital financial inclusion in exacerbating intra-provincial economic inequality;(6)The exacerbating effect of digital financial inclusion on intra-provincial economic inequality converges as the degree of economic inequality grows,with a non-linear effect on more economically unbalanced provinces,but only an exacerbating effect on more economically balanced provinces;(7)The G20 High-Level Principles of Digital Financial Inclusion can mitigate intra-provincial economic inequality,and the development of digital financial inclusion under the constraints of this policy can also inhibit intra-provincial economic inequality.This paper concludes with some targeted policy recommendations based on the findings of the preceding theoretical studies and empirical experiments.The development of digital financial inclusion must be complemented with vigilance against the equity challenges caused by the digital divide.In order to address the digital divide brought about by digital financial inclusion,priority should be given to the development of information and communications technology and the enhancement of the financial and digital literacy of people in the "last mile".Actively directing the impact of digital financial inclusion in increasing consumption and assisting in the achievement of the next stage of economic development aim of "expanding domestic demand and unhindered domestic circulation".The business principles of digital inclusion finance should be implemented as quickly as possible,and regulations should be reinforced to guide digital inclusion finance toward balanced economic development. |
