Digital Inclusive Finance and Residents' Consumption Level: Analysis Based on Mediating Effect Test

Abstract

: Digital inclusive finance has the advantages of both the digitalization of inclusive finance and the inclusion of digital finance, which can stimulate residents to break through the temporal and spatial limitations of consumption and release their consumption potential. Based on the panel data of 31 provinces and cities in China from 2014 to 2020, this paper analyzes the relationship between digital inclusive finance and residents' consumption level, explores the mediating mechanism of the effect, and conducts heterogeneity test. The conclusion shows that digital inclusive finance can significantly promote the improvement of residents' consumption level through the mediating mechanism of increasing residents' income, facilitating payment and optimizing industrial structure, and the effect is more obvious in the eastern coastal regions and non-complex terrain regions. Finally, the corresponding suggestions are put forward based on the conclusions. We should promote the construction of communication infrastructure, increase residents' incomes through tax policies, preferential subsidies and other means. Furthermore, we need to leverage synergies to upgrade the industrial structure and strengthen the popularization of financial knowledge, so as to accelerate the expansion of domestic demand.