Research on the Impact of Digital Inclusive Finance on the Development Level of Rural E-Commerce

2023年10月召开的中央金融工作会议首次提出了要做好金融“五篇大文章”，普惠金融作为其中之一，承担着非常重要的使命，在补充传统金融，服务三农，减少金融歧视，增强金融服务可得性方面发挥重要作用。本文选取2011~2022年我国31个省份面板数据，探索数字普惠金融对农村电子商务发展水平的影响。结果表明：数字普惠金融能有效促进农村电子商务发展水平；该结果在经过一系列稳健性检验之后依然成立。但异质性分析表明数字普惠金融对东、中、西部农村电子商务发展的影响不同，对东部的促进作用更显著。基于此，本文提出加快推进数字普惠金融发展进程、完善数字基础设施建设、量身定制金融产品与服务、政策引导与支持等建议。The Central Financial Conference in October 2023 first proposed focusing on “five key tasks” in the financial sector. Inclusive finance, as one of them, bears an important mission. It plays a key role in supplementing traditional finance, serving agriculture, rural areas, and farmers (“the three rurals”), reducing financial discrimination, and enhancing the accessibility of financial services. This study uses panel data from China’s 31 provinces (2011~2022) to explore the impact of digital inclusive finance on the development of rural e-commerce. Results show that digital inclusive finance can boost the development level of rural e-commerce, and this conclusion remains valid after a series of robustness tests. However, heterogeneous analysis indicates that digital inclusive finance has varying impacts on rural e-commerce in the eastern, central, and western regions, with a more significant promoting effect in the eastern region. Based on this, the paper suggests accelerating the development of digital inclusive finance, improving digital infrastructure, tailoring financial products and services, and providing policy guidance and support.