Has Digital Village Construction Improved Rural Family Resilience in China? Evidence Based on China Household Finance Survey

Abstract

The development of digital village construction to improve rural family resilience (RFR) is emerging as a key focus area and target of China’s rural revitalization strategy. However, there is limited evidence available on the impacts of digital village construction on RFR measures. This paper aimed to examine the effect and mechanism of digital village construction on rural family resilience based on the micro panel data of the China Household Finance Survey (CHFS) from 2015 to 2019 to empirically test the effect and mechanism of targeted digital village construction on the resilience of rural family. This research also examined the role of farmers’ entrepreneurial dynamism in the process. Unlike previous studies, we included family welfare into the measurement framework of RFR. Therefore, RFR was represented by the probability that household welfare exceeds a certain standard. The research found that rural communities quickly transformed from one stable state to another when the external shocks exceeded the threshold of rural resilience. The development of digital village construction can effectively reduce the probability of changing the existing steady state when rural families face shocks. At the national level, farmers’ entrepreneurial dynamism had a positive moderating effect on the RFR of the digital village. In the more developed eastern region, digital village construction was relatively advanced and had a significant effect on farmers’ income growth. Conversely, the digital village construction in the central, northeastern, and western regions was less developed; moreover, it had a weaker impact than that in the eastern area. Therefore, the regional reality and gap should be fully considered when constructing a digital village.