Digital Literacy and Rural Household Economic Vulnerability: Evidence from China

Enhancing the risk-coping capacity and economic resilience of rural households is of great significance for consolidating the foundation of household development and improving people’s well-being. As a core form of human capital in the digital era, digital literacy opens up a new pathway for addressing the economic challenges faced by rural households. Using data from the 2022 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), this paper empirically examines the association between digital literacy and rural household economic vulnerability, as well as its underlying mechanisms. The findings reveal that: (1) Digital literacy is significantly negatively associated with rural household economic vulnerability, and this conclusion is consistently validated across different model specifications and measurement approaches, supporting Hypothesis 1; (2) Mediation analysis shows that employment quality and social trust mediate the negative association between digital literacy and rural household economic vulnerability, supporting Hypotheses 2 and 3; (3) Moderation analysis shows that education level moderates the association, and the negative association between digital literacy and rural household economic vulnerability is stronger among less-educated households, supporting Hypothesis 4b, while Hypothesis 4a is not supported; (4) Heterogeneity analysis indicates that the negative association between digital literacy and rural household economic vulnerability varies significantly across different characteristics of household heads, household endowments, and regions. It should be noted that, based on cross-sectional data, the above findings reflect correlations rather than causal relationships. Accordingly, this paper proposes policy recommendations including accelerating the construction of rural digital infrastructure, prioritizing digital literacy training for less-educated rural households, and adopting targeted policies tailored to different conditions, so as to comprehensively enhance rural households’ digital literacy and inject sustainable endogenous momentum into the modernization of agriculture and rural areas.