Does Digital Finance Development Promote Household Charitable Giving

Digital finance has had an important impact on family economic activities, but few scholars have studied the impact of digital finance on household charitable giving. Based on Digital Financial Inclusion Index of China and China Family Panel Studies in 2014, 2016 and 2018, this paper investigates the impact of digital finance development on household charitable giving. The result shows that digital finance development significantly promotes household charitable giving, and this conclusion remains robust after a series of robustness tests, including the use of instrumental variables. Mechanism analysis shows that digital finance development mainly promotes household charitable giving through three mechanisms: payment facilitation, information access and social interaction. Heterogeneity analysis shows that digital finance development has a more significant impact on households in rural areas, as well as those with lower human capital, material capital, and social capital. The conclusion of this paper provides a new perspective to explain the significant increase in charitable giving in recent years, and enrich the research literature on the influence of digital finance on family economic activities and social governance.