The impact of digital financial usage on resident’s income inequality in China: An empirical analysis based on CHFS data

Yunping Hao and Bing Zhang

Journal of Asian Economics, 2024, vol. 91, issue C

Abstract: This study investigates the relationship between digital financial use and resident’s income inequality based on 2019 CHFS data. We argue that digital finance usage impacts resident’s income inequality both directly and indirectly. To examine the impact of digital financial use on resident’s income inequality and explore transmission mechanisms, including differences across regions, occupations, work types, and education levels, we employ ordinary least squares. Our results reveal that digital payments, digital money management, digital funds, and credit card usage have a positive mitigating effect on resident’s income inequality. Digital financial services have a significant positive impact on resident’s income inequality in southern, northern, coastal, and inland regions. Among purely agricultural farmers, digital payments, digital money management, and credit cards' effects are more pronounced than purely non-agricultural farmers. The use of digital financial also reduces resident’s income inequality among different work types, including institutional, state-owned, self-employed, and private enterprise. Family entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial frequency, and working outside the home are important channels through which digital financial services mitigate resident’s income inequality. Digital payments and credit cards reduce resident’s wage income inequality, while digital money management and digital funds are effective in reducing resident’s property income inequality.

Keywords: Digital finance; Digital payments; Resident’s income inequality; Family entrepreneurship; Credit card usage (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1049007824000010
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:asieco:v:91:y:2024:i:c:s1049007824000010

DOI: 10.1016/j.asieco.2024.101706

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Asian Economics is currently edited by C. Wiemer

More articles in Journal of Asian Economics from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().