The role of digital financial inclusion in increasing fertility intentions: evidence from China

Jiajun Lan, Yinghao Pan and Yingjie Yu

Applied Economics, 2024, vol. 56, issue 9, 1090-1108

Abstract: Digital financial inclusion is essential for promoting regional development, but its impact on demographic change requires further investigation. Using data from the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) between 2012 and 2017, this study provides empirical evidence on how the growth of digital financial inclusion affects fertility intentions in China. The results indicate that a one percent increase in the provincial-level digital financial inclusion index is associated with a 0.136% increase in fertility intentions. These findings hold across different components of digital financial inclusion and are robust to instrumental variable approaches. Moreover, the study shows that the expansion of digital financial inclusion has a more significant effect on households in low-income groups, central and western regions of China, and women with low educational attainment. These results underscore the importance of digital financial inclusion in addressing population declines worldwide.

Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/00036846.2023.2244249 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

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:taf:applec:v:56:y:2024:i:9:p:1090-1108

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/RAEC20

DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2023.2244249

Access Statistics for this article

Applied Economics is currently edited by Anita Phillips

More articles in Applied Economics from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().