Can Digital Inclusive Finance Impact on the Rural Income? An Empirical Study in Henan Province, China

This paper empirically analyzes the relationship between digital inclusive finance and rural income, and demonstrates that digital inclusive finance plays a significant role in promoting rural income, based on the 2012-2018 panel data of 17 cities in Henan Province of China. Further dimensional research unveils that all of its breadth of coverage, depth of use and degree of digitization present significant positive correlation with rural income, and a robustness test was conducted through the sub-sample method. In addition, according to regression analysis on the influencing factors of digital inclusive finance through the Tobit model, the level of economic development, the Internet popularity rate and the urbanization rate have a positive effect on the development of digital inclusive finance in Henan, while the income gap between urban and rural areas and the degree of opening up have a negative effect. Finally, predicated on the analysis of the restrictive factors of Henan’s digital inclusive finance in increasing rural income, the paper puts forward specific policy proposals based on the native state quo.