Topic：Statistical measurement and social impact of digital finance development

Time：15:00 pm -16:00 pm, 28 November 2018 (Wednesday)

Location：Room 104, Office Building of School of Statistics

Lecturer：Zhang Xun

  Summary of the report: We are now in the Internet-based third technological revolution, which has far-reaching impact on efficiency and equity. With the Internet revolution, while traditional financial institutions have increased their inclusive financial practices, Internet finance and digital finance, which rely on innovative technologies such as information technology, big data technology and cloud computing, have experienced rapid development, making financial services more accessible. The reach and service scope of financial services have been expanded, creating favorable conditions for the continued advancement of inclusive finance. This study builds the index system of digital inclusive finance, and, for the first time, compiled the digital inclusive financial index system at the provincial level, city level and county level between 2011 and 2015 by using micro-transaction account data on digital inclusive finance of Ant Financial, China’s iconic online financial institution, and adopting the index non-dimension method, the AHP-based variation coefficient weighting method and the index synthesis method.

  A preliminary analysis of the index shows that China's digital finance is developing rapidly, and that of the economically backward regions are developing at a faster rate, reflecting the inclusiveness of digital finance. Next, the study combines the index with the China Family Panel Survey (CFPS) data to assess the impact of digital finance development on inclusive growth. According to the study, the development of digital finance has significantly increased household income, especially for low-income groups in rural areas, thus helping to narrow regional and urban-rural gaps and promote China's inclusive growth. Then, this study explores the transmission mechanism from digital finance to inclusive growth, and finds that the development of digital finance has helped enhance entrepreneurship among rural residents and brought about equal entrepreneurial opportunities. Further, the paper carries out heterogeneity analysis on the gaps in physical capital, human capital and social capital, and finds that the development of digital finance is particularly helpful to promote the entrepreneurial behavior of families with low-physical capital or low-social capital, thus promoting China's inclusive growth.