Digital financial inclusion and poverty alleviation: Evidence from the sustainable development of China

Digital financial inclusion (DIFI) exerts vital influence on poverty alleviation in China, thus developing digital financial inclusion may provide new approaches to inclusive growth and create more possibilities for the sustainable development with extending the coverage and usage concerning financial services. This research explores how poverty alleviation is impacted by digital financial inclusion derived from the provincial data of China from 2011 to 2019. The results show that digital financial inclusion can make considerable contributions to poverty alleviation significantly. We conduct heterogeneity analysis with quantile regression conjointly, which reveals that digital financial inclusion has divergent effects on users with diverse poverty levels. The results of mediation regression demonstrate that the income level and income distribution play a vital role in poverty alleviation. Moreover, based on spatial Dubin model, digital financial inclusion enhances poverty alleviation with a spillover effect, which correlates with a “U” non-linear relation, laying a hidden danger of increasing poverty. Finally, we carry out IV regression to enhance the robust results, proving the reliability of this research’s basic conclusion.