| In recent years,with the rapid development of Internet technology,the consumption experience of rural residents has been constantly enriched,and the impact of Internet on residents’ consumption has become a hot topic of concern of many scholars.The Internet has changed the way rural residents live and work.At the level of life,the Internet has broadened the information sources and consumption channels of rural residents and enriched their consumption patterns.In the mode of production,science and technology has brought new employment patterns and development opportunities to farmers.The deep integration of the Internet and the real economy has become a new driving force for industrialization,urbanization and agricultural modernization.Internet technology is playing an important role in accelerating urban and rural economic development and adjusting industrial structure.This paper studies the impact of Internet use on rural consumption level and consumption structure,and the heterogeneity of this impact in different regions.This paper uses all kinds of consumption expenditure and Engel’s coefficient to measure the consumption structure.Starting from macro analysis,based on the provincial panel data from 2013 to 2020,this paper analyzes the impact of Internet use on rural residents’ consumption by using point-in-time individual fixed effect model and point-in-time individual random effect model.Then,based on the data of the Comprehensive Survey of China’s Social Conditions(CSS)2019,this paper use instrumental variable regression method to estimate the impact of Internet use on the consumption level and structure of rural residents,and further analyze the differences of the impact of Internet use on rural residents’ consumption in the eastern,central,western and northeastern regions of China.Through empirical analysis,the main conclusions are as follows.First,the use of the Internet has significantly improved the consumption level of rural residents;Second,Internet use has the potential to upgrade consumption by increasing the pleasurable consumption of rural residents;Third,there are regional differences in the impact of Internet use on rural residents’ consumption.Internet use mainly releases the consumption potential of residents in eastern and western China,and significantly reduces the Engel coefficient of rural households in eastern and central China.Finally,this paper puts forward the following policy recommendations.Improve the construction of network infrastructure and enhance the Internet application ability of rural residents;Pay attention to the regional coordinated development of the Internet;Improve the network governance system,improve the experience of using the Internet;Promote the integration of the Internet with agriculture,rural areas and farmers.These policy suggestions will help grasp the opportunities of Internet development and improve the consumption and living standards of rural residents. |
