Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/329492 
Year of Publication: 
2025
Citation: 
[Journal:] Economies [ISSN:] 2227-7099 [Volume:] 13 [Issue:] 8 [Article No.:] 212 [Year:] 2025 [Pages:] 1-32
Publisher: 
MDPI, Basel
Abstract: 
This study investigates the impact and mechanisms of digital inclusive finance (DIF) on high-quality economic development in China. Drawing on panel data from 281 prefecture-level cities between 2011 and 2021, we employ a Spatial Durbin Model (SDM) to analyze both the direct effects and spatial spillovers of DIF. The results indicate that (1) DIF has a significantly positive effect on high-quality development, which remains robust after conducting various stability and endogeneity tests; (2) DIF strongly contributes to economic upgrading in eastern regions, while its impact is weaker or even negative in central and western regions, revealing notable regional disparities exist; (3) a key finding is the identification of a double-threshold effect, suggesting that the positive influence of DIF only emerges when financial and industrial development surpass certain thresholds; (4) results from the two-regime SDM further show that spillover effects are more prominent in non-central cities than in central ones; and (5) mechanism analysis reveals that DIF facilitates high-quality growth primarily by promoting industrial structure upgrading. These findings underscore the importance of region-specific policy strategies to enhance the role of DIF and reduce spatial disparities in development across China.
Subjects: 
digital inclusive finance (DIF)
high-quality economic development
spatial Durbin model (SDM)
two-regime system
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by Logo
Document Type: 
Article

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