The Impact of Digital Inclusive Finance on Resident Income under the Background of Rural Revitalization: Evidence from County-level Data in the Wuling Mountain Area

As a continuation and development of traditional inclusive finance, digital inclusive finance can effectively improve the efficiency of traditional financial services and promote income growth for rural residents in county-level areas. Based on panel data from 71 counties and cities in the Wuling Mountain area from 2014 to 2018, a fixed effects model and an intermediary effects model were comprehensively used, and heterogeneity analysis was conducted to test the impact mechanism and differences of digital inclusive finance on new urbanization. The research results indicate that digital inclusive finance can promote the increase of income for farmers in poverty-stricken counties, but there is regional heterogeneity. Regions with lower dependence on county-level fiscal expenditure enjoy more of the digital financial technology dividend, while regions with higher dependence on county-level fiscal expenditure are not significantly affected by the digital financial policy dividend. In addition, different dimensions of digital inclusive finance also show a positive impact on increasing farmers' income. Further research has found that urbanization is an important intermediary channel for digital inclusive finance to affect the income increase of farmers in the Wuling Mountain area.