Digital inclusive finance, green technological innovation, and carbon emissions from a spatial perspective

Based on the panel data of 276 prefecture-level cities in China from 2011 to 2020, this study explores the impact of digital inclusive finance (DIF) on carbon emissions and the intrinsic mechanism of green technological innovation from a spatial perspective by constructing a spatial econometric model, a mediating effect model, and a threshold model. The results show that DIF significantly inhibits carbon emissions, exhibiting a spatial spillover effect. The transmission mechanism from a spatial perspective shows that green technological innovation plays a partial mediating role between DIF and carbon emissions, with the mediating effect accounting for approximately 59.47%. The heterogeneity analysis suggests that the impact of DIF on the reduction of carbon emissions is more pronounced in large and medium-sized cities and eastern regions. Further discussion reveals that the carbon reduction effect of DIF is also influenced by green technological innovation and industrial structure upgrading, showing threshold effects with marginal decreases and gradual increases, respectively.

Mechanism research on digital inclusive finance promoting high-quality economic development: Evidence from China

This article aims to precisely evaluate the catalytic impact of digital inclusive finance on economic growth, enhance the implementation of policies pertaining to digital inclusive finance, and foster high-quality economic development. Based on China's provincial panel data and the digital inclusive finance index from 2011 to 2021, this research investigates the influence of digital inclusive finance on high-quality economic development and the associated underlying mechanisms. The findings suggest that digital inclusive finance exerts a notable spatial impact on high-quality economic development. Moreover, there is heterogeneity in the spatial effects between different dimensions of digital inclusive finance and high-quality economic development. Through the threshold model and intermediary effect model, it is found that the Internet penetration rate has a dual-threshold effect on the impact of digital inclusive finance on promoting high-quality economic development. Specifically, digital inclusive finance contributes to elevating the level of high-quality economic development through its role in promoting the transformation of consumption structure. The findings of this study offer valuable insights for countries aiming to attain high-quality economic development through the enhancement of digital inclusive finance.

Spatio-temporal effects of digital inclusive finance on the synergy between CO2 and air pollution emissions in 251 Chinese cities

Achieving the synergistic reduction of CO2 and air pollution emissions (SRCAPEs) holds great significance in promoting the green transformation. However, limited research has been conducted on the spatio-temporal impact of digital inclusive finance (DIF) on the synergy between CO2 and air pollution emissions (SCAPEs). To address this gap, we comprehensively employ the linear regression model, geographically and the temporally weighted regression (GTWR) model, and the ordered probit model to empirically analyze the influence of DIF on SCAPE. Our research reveals the following: (1) The linear regression model demonstrates that, on average, DIF can achieve a weak synergistic emission reduction effect. This result remains robust after a battery of robustness tests. (2) The GTWR model reveals that the impact of DIF on both emissions exhibits evident spatio-temporal characteristics. Its emission reduction effect gradually increases, especially after 2014. (3) On the basis of the estimates from the GTWR model, we can identify four distinct synergy types driven by DIF. The number of cities with the preferred type (i.e., achieving SRCAPE) increases the most, from 59 in 2011 to 233 in 2019. (4) On the basis of the built ordered probit models, green technology innovation is an important path for DIF to achieve synergistic emission reduction. The synergistic emission reduction effect is also significantly moderated by the regional economic level and environmental regulation intensity. Our findings have policy implications for central and local governments in achieving SRCAPE and support efforts to achieve sustainable development.

Evaluation of the coupling coordination degree between digital inclusive finance and green technology innovation in China

Digital inclusive finance (DIF) has been growing fast in recent years in China, and green technology innovation (GTI) is strongly promoted by the Chinese government. The coordinated development of DIF and GTI is important for China's economic transition to high-quality development. Therefore, utilizing the panel data of 288 prefecture cities from 2011 to 2020 in China, the research evaluates the coupling coordination degree between DIF and GTI (CCD-DG), analyzes spatial-temporal characteristics of CCD-DG, explores its regional disparities and finally analyzes its spatial effects. Results demonstrate that CCD-DG at the prefecture-city level showed a rise from 2011 to 2020, but the degree was only in the stage of basic coordination till 2020, which was mainly driven by the development of DIF in recent years. The regional disparities in CCD-DG remarkably existed but gradually narrowed down during the observation period, which mainly originated from the between-subregions differences as a result of the huge difference in GTI. Additionally, there was a significant spatial spillover effect of CCD-DG and its spatial distribution was roughly consistent with the spatial effect layout. Policy implications based on these results are finally proposed, including formulating policies with local characteristics to promote CCD-DG, emphasizing the discrepancies of CCD-DG between the East and the Northwest, and that within the Northwest and the South, etc.

Effect of digital inclusive finance on environmental efficiency of Chinese industry

China's industrial economic model of high emissions and low efficiency has caused a series of environmental problems. Improving energy efficiency is an inevitable choice to solve the dual dilemma of pollution and energy shortage and to achieve carbon peak and neutrality. It is difficult to achieve green development solely through traditional governance; therefore, digital inclusive finance (DIF) is considered a new measure to help the green transformation of China's industry. Based on the assessment of industrial environmental efficiency (IEE) of 30 provinces from 2011 to 2021 by combining the super-efficiency EBM model and the group frontier technology considering provincial heterogeneity, the paper investigates the impact of DIF on the environmental efficiency of Chinese industry and its internal mechanism. The results show that DIF has a driving effect on industrial green transformation, especially the deep development of DIF, which can play a positive role in environmental efficiency for a long time and can give full play to the targeting feature of big data, focusing on regions with serious pollution, financing difficulties, high natural resource, and poor financial endowment. DIF can reduce enterprise financing costs and drive industrial innovation; however, the path of promoting industrial green transformation through regional servitization needs to be improved. In addition, under appropriate regulatory constraints, DIF has a more positive driving effect on the environmental efficiency of the Chinese industry. This article is useful to address the issue of industrial green transformation by interdisciplinary research.

Digital inclusive finance, government intervention, and urban green technology innovation

Digital inclusive finance eases credit constraints on innovative small and medium-sized enterprises which contributes to urban green technology innovation in China. Government intervention plays an essential role in the development of digital inclusive finance. Based on the panel data of 243 cities in China from 2011 to 2019, this paper empirically examines the relationship between digital inclusive finance and urban green technology innovation as well as the intrinsic mechanism of government intervention. The findings show that, even after a series of robustness tests, digital inclusive finance can promote the quantity and quality of green technology innovation. In terms of its mechanism, digital inclusive finance can empower green technology innovation by complementing traditional financial development and stimulating green consumption, both in terms of supply and demand. At the same time, in the dynamic process of digital financial inclusion from low to high, the development of traditional finance and green consumption level on the marginal promotion of green technology innovation continues to strengthen. The nonlinear relationship test reveals that there is a significant double threshold effect on the positive impact of digital inclusive finance on urban green technology innovation with the evolution of government intervention. The innovation incentive effect of digital financial inclusion will be marginal decreasing with the increase of government intervention. Further considering the heterogeneity of urban geographic location and environmental regulation, it is found that digital financial inclusion promotes green technology innovation more in eastern and high-environmental regulation cities. Based on the above research conclusions, this paper argues that while developing digital inclusion finance, government support policies should be adjusted promptly to constantly stimulate the "Metcalfe's law" effect of digital inclusive finance enabling green technology innovation.

Can digital inclusive finance promote agricultural green development?

Digital inclusive finance (DIF) provides new momentum for green agricultural development (AGD). This paper measured AGD with entropy weight TOPSIS in five dimensions, including resource conservation, environmental friendliness, ecological conservation, green supply, and economic growth. After that, it estimated the regional spillover effects and threshold impacts of DIF on AGD utilizing China's provincial panel data from 2011 to 2020. The paper shows that (1) DIF and AGD have such a U-shaped complex interrelationship; (2) the AGD is spatially impacted by DIF. The unique manifestation is that as DIF has increased, its effect on AGD has steadily changed from being direct to being indirect, and this effect has regional heterogeneity; and (3) in regions with higher levels of green technology innovation, better development of traditional finance, or relatively concentrated agricultural industries, DIF plays a more prominent role in promoting the AGD.

Digital inclusive finance and the development of rural logistics in China

The precarious production environment in rural areas limits the services of traditional finance and rural logistics. Digital inclusive finance is expected to alleviate some major drawbacks enabling financial services to contribute to rural logistics development. Using panel data from 31 provinces in China from 2013 to 2020, this paper constructed an indicator system to measure the development level of rural logistics. Furthermore, this paper investigates the mechanism enabling digital inclusive finance influences to enhance rural logistics development. We found that financial inclusion and digital finance have a positive and significant impact on the development level of rural logistics. Moreover, we found a nonlinear relationship with a diminishing marginal effect between digital inclusive finance and the development level of rural logistics. Furthermore, it was highlighted that the promotion efficiency of digital inclusive finance on the development level of rural logistics varies according to the region and economic development. This paper provides a theoretical basis for digital inclusive finance to promote rural logistics development. It also contributes to enhancing the role of financial services enabling good development of rural logistics.

How does digital inclusive finance affect the ecological environment? Evidence from Chinese prefecture-level cities

Digital inclusive finance (DIF) is playing an increasingly prominent role in green development. This study analyses the ecological effects generated by DIF and its mechanism of action from the perspectives of emission reduction (pollution emissions index; ERI) and efficiency gains (green total factor productivity; GTFP). Using panel data from 285 cities in China from 2011 to 2020, we empirically test the effects of DIF on ERI and GTFP. The results reveal a significant dual ecological effect of DIF in terms of ERI and GTFP, but there are differences in the various dimensions of DIF. Influenced by national policies, DIF produced more substantial ecological effects after 2015, which are more pronounced in developed eastern regions. Human capital significantly enhances the ecological effects of DIF, and human capital and industrial structure are critical paths for DIF to reduce ERI and increase GTFP. This study provides policy insights for governments to leverage digital finance tools to advance sustainable development.

How does the development of digital inclusive finance in China affect green technology innovation? A theoretical mechanism study and empirical analysis

This study employed fixed effects (FE) models, difference-in-differences (DID) methods, and mediating effect (ME) models to explore the total effect, structural effect, heterogeneous characteristics, and impact mechanism of digital inclusive finance (DIF) on green technology innovation (GTI) from 2011 to 2020. We derived the following results. First, DIF can significantly improve the level of GTI, and the positive role of internet digital inclusive finance is greater than that of traditional banks, but the three dimensions of the DIF index have different impacts on such innovation. Second, the impact of DIF on GTI has a "siphon effect," which is significantly promoted in regions with stronger economic power and inhibited in those with weaker economic power. Finally, there is an influence mechanism of "digital inclusive finance → financing constraints → green technology innovation." Our findings provide evidence to establish a lasting effect mechanism for DIF to promote GTI, and they have important reference value for other countries to develop DIF.

The impact of digital inclusive finance on corporate ESG performance: based on the perspective of corporate green technology innovation

Enterprises are important subjects in the transformation of national green development, while financial support is an important thrust to promote the fulfillment of environmental responsibility. In the dual context of building a digital inclusive financial system and green transformation of corporate production, this paper explores the impact of digital inclusive finance on corporate ESG performance and its mechanism of action through theoretical and empirical analyses using data of Chinese A-share listed enterprises from 2011 to 2020. It is found that the development of digital inclusive finance significantly contributes to the improvement of corporate ESG performance, and the impact of digital inclusive finance on corporate ESG performance has a marginal decreasing effect, while corporate green technology innovation has a marginal increasing effect on corporate ESG performance. The mechanism analysis found that corporate green technology innovation has a mediating effect. The development of digital inclusive finance can enhance the green technology innovation ability of enterprises, and the green technology innovation of enterprises enhances the green sustainability ability of enterprises and improves the ESG performance of corporates. Further research shows that the effects of digital inclusive finance and corporate green technology innovation on corporate ESG performance are industry heterogeneous and pollution degree heterogeneous. How to promote financial services to better promote the combination of corporate green development and fulfillment of social and environmental responsibility is the most direct research implication of this paper.

Does digital inclusive finance affect the urban green economic efficiency? New evidence from the spatial econometric analysis of 284 cities in China

Digital inclusive finance has an essential impact on improving the urban green economy efficiency by demonstrating environmental friendliness in agglomerating factors and promoting the flow of factors. Based on the panel data of 284 cities in China from 2011 to 2020, this paper uses the super-efficiency SBM model with undesirable outputs to measure the urban green economy efficiency. Then, the fixed effect model and spatial econometric model of panel data are used to empirically test the impact of digital inclusive finance on urban green economic efficiency and its spatial spillover effect, and the heterogeneity analysis is carried out. This paper draws the following conclusions. (1) The average value of urban green economic efficiency of 284 Chinese cities from 2011 to 2020 is 0.5916, showing a "high in the east and low in the west." In terms of time, it showed a rising trend year by year. (2) Digital financial inclusion and urban green economy efficiency have a high spatial correlation, both showing "high-high" and "low-low" agglomeration characteristics. (3) Digital inclusive finance significantly impacts urban green economic efficiency, especially in the eastern region. (4) The impact of digital inclusive finance on urban green economic efficiency has a spatial spillover effect. In the eastern and central regions, digital inclusive finance will inhibit the improvement of urban green economic efficiency in adjacent cities. In contrast, it will promote urban green economy efficiency in the western regions in adjacent cities. (5) The coverage and depth of digital inclusive finance significantly affect the urban green economy efficiency, while the level of digitization has yet to show a significant effect. This paper puts forward some suggestions and references for promoting the coordinated development of digital inclusive finance in various regions and improving urban green economic efficiency.

Digital inclusive finance, financial mismatch and the innovation capacity of small and medium-sized enterprises: Evidence from Chinese listed companies

As the main driver of innovation, enterprises can effectively promote the level of social innovation. This paper incorporates digital inclusive finance into the research framework of innovation in Small and Medium-sized enterprises, and investigates the impact of digital inclusive finance on the innovation ability of Small and Medium-sized enterprises through theoretical and empirical analyses. The theoretical analysis finds that digital inclusive finance can compensate for the "long-tail effect" in the financing process and help enterprises obtain financing loans. In terms of empirical analysis, this paper has conducted empirical tests by selecting the innovation data of Chinese A-share listed companies from 2010 to 2021, and the results show that: (1) Digital inclusive finance still has a facilitating effect on the technological innovation capability of Small and Medium-sized enterprises after the robustness test. (2)The mechanism evaluation finds that the digital inclusive finance segmentation indicators, i.e., the depth of use, the breadth of coverage and the degree of digitalization, are also important ways to enhance the technological innovation capability of Small and Medium-sized enterprises. (3)The innovative introduction of financial mismatch variables reveals that the financial mismatch problem in the financial market has a suppressive effect on the technological innovation capability of Small and Medium-sized enterprises. (4)Further analysis of the mediation effect of digital inclusive finance reveals that digital inclusive finance can effectively correct the financial mismatch problem in the traditional financial model and promote the technological innovation capability of Small and Medium-sized enterprises. This paper enriches the analysis of the economic effects of digital inclusive finance, while providing Chinese empirical support for digital inclusive finance to promote the innovation ability of Small and Medium-sized enterprises.

Digital inclusive finance and consumption-based embodied carbon emissions: A dual perspective of consumption and industry upgrading

Promoting the development of financial instruments can influence carbon emission reduction in the context of the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals. There are currently no theoretical mechanisms to explain whether and how digital inclusive finance, as a new type of financial service, influences residential consumption-based embodied carbon emissions. This study employs the mediation model, moderation model, and moderated mediation model to empirically evaluate the influence mechanism of digital inclusive finance on consumption-based embodied carbon emissions per capita in China from 2011 to 2019. The findings demonstrate that the development of digital inclusive finance increases residents' consumption-based embodied carbon emissions by upgrading consumption level and consumption structure, but that upgrading industrial structure does indeed have a significantly negative moderating effect in implications paths, causing consumption-based embodied carbon emissions to shift from positive to negative. This study, by focusing on the advancement of digital inclusive finance, offers policymakers suggestions for reducing consumption-based embodied carbon emissions from the standpoints of consumption upgrading and industrial structure upgrading, respectively.

The impact of digital inclusive finance on provincial green development efficiency: empirical evidence from China

Green development is inseparable from financial support. The impact of digital inclusive finance (DIF), an emerging financial format, on the green development efficiency (GDE) needs to be studied. Using the panel data of the Provincial Digital Financial Inclusion Index from 2011 to 2019, this paper examines the impact of DIF and its coverage breadth (CB), usage depth (UD), and digitalization level (DL) on GDE, and analyzes the regional heterogeneity of the impact of DIF on GDE. The research also explores the mechanism by which DIF affects the efficiency of provincial green development, including the moderating role of environmental regulation (ER) and the mediating role of industrial structure upgrade (ISU). The results show that DIF, UD, and DL can significantly improve provincial GDE, and the effect of coverage breadth is not obvious. From a regional perspective, DIF can promote GDE in the eastern and central regions, whereas it has no obvious effect on the western region. Moreover, ER has played a moderation role in the process of DIF affecting GDE. ISU has played a partial mediation role in the process of DIF affecting GDE. The research conclusions can provide relevant suggestions for the green development of China's provinces.