Study On The Spatial And Temporal Divergence And The Influencing Factors Of Digital Inclusive Finance In Guangdong Province

The concept of digital inclusion was officially introduced at the G20 Summit in2016.Digital inclusion is defined in the G20 as "formal action to promote financial inclusion through all digital financial services." Its focus is on providing affordable financial services to promote the sustainable development of financial services.Guangdong Province has a high value of economic output in counties,a large number of counties in total,and a dense population in counties.However,the problem of uneven regional economic development in Guangdong Province is prominent.Of the 124 county-level administrative units in Guangdong Province,57 counties(cities)account for 71.7% of the land area,only 27.96%of the resident population,and only 12.5% of the total economic output of Guangdong Province.Not only that,the level of development of digital inclusive finance also varies greatly among different counties and municipal districts.The most urgent task for the economic development of Guangdong Province is to make up for the imbalance in economic development among different counties,which requires the balanced development of digital inclusive finance in all counties of Guangdong Province.Therefore,this paper firstly compares the theoretical basis of digital inclusive finance with existing studies,and lays a good theoretical foundation for the analysis of regional differences and the empirical study of influencing factors.Then,the paper selects the county data in the "Peking University Digital Inclusive Finance Index(Phase IV)" as the indicator to measure the level of digital inclusive finance in Guangdong Province,and adopts Moran test,Moran scatter plot,Lisa cluster plot and cold and hot spot analysis with the help of exploratory spatial data analysis(ESDA)method.The evolution of regional differences and the evolution pattern of digital inclusive finance in counties of Guangdong Province are analyzed in detail and visually.Finally,a panel regression model was used to empirically test the main influencing factors of county digital inclusive finance in Guangdong Province and the four segments to find out the significant influencing factors driving the development of county digital inclusive finance in each segment.The following conclusions were drawn from the above study.First,through the analysis of the evolution of the digital inclusive finance index in Guangdong counties from 2014 to2021,it is found that the level of digital inclusive finance development in Guangdong counties has been showing an upward trend,but the growth rate began to slow down significantly after 2017,which is slightly weak.In addition,the breadth of coverage and depth of use have been developed considerably during the study period,and the main source of growth at this stage is the degree of digitalization.Second,by analyzing the spatial evolution of regional differences in digital inclusive finance in Guangdong counties,it was explored that digital inclusive finance in Guangdong counties during the study period(2016-2021)showed the spatial characteristics that counties within the same segment influenced each other and were difficult to get rid of the original agglomeration area;digital inclusive finance in counties between different segments were difficult to influence each other.The PRD plate,centered on the municipal districts of Guangzhou and Shenzhen,is a high concentration area,while most counties in the western and northern Guangdong plates are low concentration areas.Third,through the empirical analysis of the regression of the full sample and the sub-sample of four segments in Guangdong Province,it is found that different economic segments have different influencing factors on the development of digital inclusive finance in counties.The influence of the degree of traditional financial development on the digital inclusive finance in western and eastern Guangdong counties is not significant;the northern Guangdong segment improves the level of urbanization,which is not conducive to the development of digital inclusive finance,but improving the education level of residents can improve the development of digital inclusive finance,while the eastern Guangdong segment can promote the development of digital inclusive finance through the industrial upgrading and transformation of the tertiary industry.Finally,based on the empirical results,policy recommendations are proposed to promote the development of digital inclusive finance in Guangdong counties.