数字普惠金融缩小收入差距了吗?——来自中国家庭追踪调查的经验证据

Does Digital Financial Inclusion Alleviate Income Gap?Empirical Evidence from China Family Panel Studies

基于北京大学数字普惠金融指数以及中国家庭追踪调查(CFPS)数据,实证检验数字普惠金融的发展与收入不平等之间的关系。研究发现:数字普惠金融发展水平的提高整体上缩小了收入差距,在考虑内生性、替换被解释变量以及更换检验方法之后该结论依然稳健,但数字普惠金融对收入不平等的作用在城乡间、区域间存在显著差异;机制分析表明,数字普惠金融能够通过提升家庭金融产品的持有概率以及提高信贷可得性两个途径减缓收入差距;调节效应的分析显示,对于金融素养更高的群体以及使用互联网的个体,数字普惠金融对收入差距的抑制作用会进一步加强。因此,应当加快地区数字化建设,增强金融的普惠性,推动各类群体共享经济发展的成果,提升社会福利。

As an important part of China’s construction of a powerful modern socialist country,achieving common prosperity is the current and future goal of struggle,and improving the welfare of low-income groups and narrowing income gaps are the top priorities for achieving common prosperity.In recent years,technology-enabled inclusive finance has enhanced the inclusiveness of financial services,thus making it possible for economically backward regions to realize inclusive finance.Truly,the digital financial inclusion plays a significant role in inclusive economic growth,individual income increasing and poverty reduction,which can help the whole society share the fruits of economic development.From this perspective,it has important theoretical and practical significance to explore how digital inclusive finance optimizes the pattern of income distribution.Based on the data of the China Family Panel Studies(CFPS)conducted by the Institute of Social Science Survey of Peking University and the digital financial inclusion index released by the Institute of Digital Finance Peking University,this paper makes an empirical analysis by ordinary least squares(OLS)regression model.Results show that digital financial inclusion plays a positive role in alleviating the income gap.Specifically,in regions with higher level of digital financial inclusion,the income gap among residents is alleviated to some extent,while regions with a lower level are associated with a wider income gap.This result remains robust after changing regression methods,considering endogeneity issues,and replacing variables.In addition,the effect of digital financial inclusion on income gap has significant differences between urban and rural areas,and between regions.The results of mechanism analysis show that improving the development level of digital financial inclusion can significantly reduce the income gap by increasing the holding probability of household financial products to optimize asset allocation and enhancing the availability of credit.Further research finds that the improvement of individual financial literacy and the use of the Internet can strengthen the role of digital financial inclusion in alleviating income gap.Compared with previous studies,this paper mainly expands in the following three aspects.First,unlike existing research that focuses on the income gap between urban and rural areas,this paper believes that the income gap accompanying economic growth also exists within urban and rural areas,and especially,the increasing income of urban low-income groups is also worthy of attention.Therefore,this paper discusses the income gap among individuals based on micro-data.Second,considering that the digital financial inclusion service system aims to meet individual financial needs,this paper expands the previous literature on the relationship between inclusive finance and income inequality by optimizing the allocation of household financial assets and easing credit constraints.Third,given the differences in individual financial knowledge level and Internet usage,this paper explores the role of digital financial inclusion in narrowing income gaps from the perspectives of increasing Internet penetration and preventing risks caused by lack of financial literacy.This paper reveals the important role and internal logic of digital finance in narrowing the income gap to a certain extent,which helps relevant departments formulate a digital finance promotion path in line with regional development in a targeted manner,and enhance the regional balance of digital finance development.In addition,they can better guide residents to make good use of financial services,maximize the release of digital dividends while preventing risks,rely on the digital financial inclusion to improve the family welfare of various groups(especially low-income groups),and optimize the income distribution pattern.