Research on the Influence of Digital Finance Development on Entrepreneurial Engagement Among New Citizens

The new citizen demographic constitutes a substantial and expanding segment of the urban workforce, playing a pivotal role in urban economic dynamics. Despite facing financing barriers during entrepreneurial ventures, this group has witnessed novel opportunities arising from the rapid evolution of digital finance. Utilizing data from the 2019 China Household Finance Survey (CHFS), this study examines the effect of digital finance development on entrepreneurial behavior among new citizens through empirical analysis via the Probit model. Results indicate that digital finance development significantly encourages entrepreneurial activity within this group, a finding robust to endogeneity controls and multiple robustness validations. Mechanistic analyse further demonstrates that this effect is mediated by the pathway: increased adoption of digital payment systems.