A Study On The Impact Of Digital Inclusive Finance On The Welfare Level Of Farm Households

The Central Document No.1 in 2022 pointed out that solving the "three rural issues" is a key task in promoting rural revitalization.The improvement of peasants’ welfare is not only the measure of Chinese rural revitalization,but also the final target of rural development.However,the weak development of financial services in rural areas in China is an undeniable reality,and issues such as financial exclusion and "long-tail effects" will have an impact on the welfare level of rural households.With the popularization of information and communication technology and intelligent devices in rural areas,the development of digital inclusive finance in rural areas has become a powerful support for supplementing rural financial services.Rural digital inclusive finance is continuously releasing the "digital dividend" in helping rural areas consolidate the achievements of poverty alleviation,filling the gaps in people’s livelihood fields,and providing powerful support for promoting the deepening of financial services in rural revitalization,consolidating the achievements of building a moderately prosperous society and moving towards a new journey of common prosperity.This paper takes digital inclusive finance as a starting point and combines theoretical analysis and empirical analysis based on welfare economic theory and existing research with the current development situation in China to examine the impact of the development of digital inclusive finance on the welfare level of rural households in China.Firstly,this thesis systematically reviews domestic and foreign literature and,based on this,constructs a theoretical research framework for the impact of digital inclusive finance on the welfare level of farmers,by analyzing welfare economics theory,financial development theory,and feasibility theory,in order to clarify the impact mechanism of digital inclusive finance on the welfare level of farmers.Furthermore,this study,based on the Sen’s capability theory,constructs a comprehensive indicator of farmers’ welfare level by using fuzzy mathematical estimation method from three dimensions: farmers’ economic sense of gain,subjective well-being,and financial behavior ability,based on the CHFS2019 database.Then,with the digital inclusive finance development index in 2019 as an independent variable,this research examines the influence of digital inclusive finance on the peasants’ welfare.The empirical results indicate that the digital inclusive finance has an active and remarkable influence on the improvement of peasants’ welfare.Furthermore,heterogeneity tests were conducted to examine the impact of digital inclusive finance on the welfare level of farmers.Based on these tests,the research conclusions remain valid after conducting endogeneity and robustness tests.Finally,using the MED-SEM mediation model,this study examines the mediating effect of farmers’ financial literacy,social interaction level,and information acquisition capacity on the impact of digital inclusive finance.On the basis of the above research achievements,the paper proposes the relevant policy recommendations.This thesis explores the impact of the development of digital inclusive finance on the micro-level welfare of farmers from the perspective of macro-financial development.It provides research ideas and supplements for understanding the development of digital inclusive finance,its role in rural integration development,and its operating mechanisms.