Abstract:
Promoting the growth of farmers' income is a key objective of rural revitalization and common prosperity. It is important to explore whether digital inclusive finance can contribute to this income growth and further support rural revitalization and common prosperity. This paper examines the impact of digital inclusive finance on farmers' income by matching the county-level digital inclusive finance index for 2020 with data from the 2021 Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) and county-level socioeconomic indicators. The findings reveal that digital inclusive finance significantly promotes farmers' income growth. Farmers' entrepreneurship and non-agricultural employment act as mediators between digital inclusive finance and income growth. Additionally, government intervention enhances the income-boosting effect of digital inclusive finance. The effect is stronger in the eastern regions compared to the central and western regions. Based on these findings, the paper proposes several recommendations: aligning the supply and demand of digital inclusive finance in rural areas, optimizing the rural entrepreneurship environment, promoting the expansion of rural non-agricultural employment, improving rural digital infrastructure, enhancing human capital in rural areas, and increasing the allocation of digital inclusive resources to the central and western regions.