Abstract:

The narrowing of urban-rural income gap is conducive to achieving social fairness and common prosperity. With the further development of digital inclusive finance in Hubei Province, the problem of unequal income between urban and rural residents has been effectively alleviated. Based on the digital inclusive finance index of Peking University, this paper used panel data of prefecture-level cities in Hubei Province from 2011 to 2022 to empirically analyze the impact of digital inclusive finance development on urban-rural income gap. The results showed that the development of digital inclusive finance in Hubei Province, the improvement of openness, the optimization of industrial structure, the expansion of internet penetration rate and the improvement of education level can increase residents' income and narrow the urban-rural income gap. And the paper put forward policy suggestions such as improving the digital inclusive finance system, establishing a digital rural credit evaluation system, improving relevant laws and regulations of digital inclusive finance, and developing digital inclusive finance in an appropriate way according to local conditions.

Key words: Hubei Province, digital inclusive finance, urban-rural income gap