Research on the Regional Differences Decomposition and Convergence Mechanism of Internet Finance Development of Seven Regions in China

Mainland China can be divided into seven regions: North China, East China, Northeast China, Central China, South China, Southwest China, and Northwest China. Based on the monthly data(March 2014 to December 2015)of Internet financial development index released by Ant Financial Services Group big data platform, this paper uses the Dagum, Gini coefficient and its decomposition method to decompose the regional differences between seven regions in the development of Internet finance. Based on spatial panel data regression model, this paper tests the σ convergence, β convergence. From March 2014 to December 2015, the overall regional development of Internet finance shows a declining trend. Differences in the North China is the biggest. The differences of inter-region is the main source of Internet financial differences. Internet financial development shows a typical σ convergence. Our study has important implications to narrow the regional differences in the development of Internet banking, and promote the coordinated development of Internet banking in different agglomerations.