Digital financial inclusion and quality of economic growth

Abstract

Recently, digital financial inclusion has experienced rapid growth, introducing transformative changes to the finance industry. Its attributes of low cost, extensive coverage, and efficient cross-temporal and spatial information dissemination have had a significant impact on both economic growth and social development. This study, using China's provincial panel data, measures the quality of economic growth based on technological innovation, coordinated development, environmental protection, opening to the outside world, and people's livelihood. It verifies the impact of digital financial inclusion on the quality of economic growth by utilizing the panel fixed effect model, mediation effect model, panel threshold model, and spatial Durbin model. Digital financial inclusion has a positive impact on the quality of economic growth, particularly in the eastern region and regions with high marketization. It can effectively promote the quality of economic growth by stimulating entrepreneurial vitality, and has had a positive and increasing non-linear effect on the quality of economic growth over the past few years. Moreover, digital financial inclusion can promote the quality of economic growth in neighboring regions. Therefore, the quality of economic growth can be significantly improved by expanding the coverage breadth and usage depth of digital financial inclusion.