How does digital village alleviate rural household energy poverty?

Jiangfeng Hu, Wancheng Xie and Min Liu

Energy, 2025, vol. 318, issue C

Abstract: Under the background of the rapid advancement of digital village (DIVI), it is significant to study whether and how DIVI can alleviate rural household energy poverty (RHEP). We empirically examine the nexus between DIVI and RHEP based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2011 to 2021 by using double fixed effects and spatial panel models. The results show that the DIVI can significantly mitigate RHEP in China, mainly by promoting off-farm employment and income growth. This conclusion still holds after various robustness tests such as lagged core explanatory variables, GMM estimation, and instrumental variables method. DIVI significantly alleviates RHEP only in the central and western regions, and the alleviation is relatively stronger in lower-income areas. The impact of DIVI on RHEP has spatial spillover effects, namely DIVI cannot only efficiently mitigate local RHEP, but also radiate the mitigation of RHEP in surrounding areas. Therefore, in order to give full play to the mitigation effect of DIVI on RHEP, the Chinese government should improve the rural digital infrastructure, further promote the rural energy revolution and increase efforts to tap into new forms of rural industries. This paper provides new ideas, paths, and mechanisms for China and other developing countries to eliminate energy poverty through digital village construction.

Keywords: Digital village; Rural household; Energy poverty; Off-farm employment; Income growth; Spatial spillovers (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:318:y:2025:i:c:s036054422500355x

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2025.134713

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