数字经济对黄河流域城乡收入差距的影响研究

Research on the Impact of the Digital Economy on Urban-Rural Income Gap in the Yellow River Basin

摘要: 基于2011~2024年黄河流域9个省级行政区的相关数据，本文通过熵值法构建数字经济综合评价指标，并利用双向固定效应模型识别数字经济发展对城乡收入分配格局的影响。研究结果表明，数字经济水平上升会显著拉大城乡收入差异，说明现阶段数字化发展可能对黄河流域城乡收入均衡产生一定不利影响。在将城乡居民收入比作为替代性被解释变量，并对数字经济发展水平作一期滞后处理后，估计结果的方向与基准回归基本一致。进一步分析发现，产业结构升级这一传导渠道未得到显著统计支持；数字经济可显著推动数字普惠金融发展，但数字普惠金融的传导作用尚未得到完整支持。研究表明，应在推进数字经济发展的同时更加重视城乡数字鸿沟，通过完善农村数字基础设施、提升农村居民数字技能和增强数字金融服务有效性，使数字经济发展成果更加公平地惠及城乡居民。

Abstract: Using provincial-level panel data covering nine provincial-level administrative regions in the Yellow River Basin over the period 2011~2024, this study develops a composite index of digital economy development through the entropy-weighting method and estimates its relationship with the urban-rural income gap using a two-way fixed-effects framework. The empirical results indicate that a higher level of digital economy development is significantly associated with a wider urban-rural income gap, suggesting that, at the current stage, digitalization may intensify income disparities between urban and rural residents in the Yellow River Basin. This finding remains broadly unchanged when the urban-to-rural income ratio is used as an alternative measure of income inequality and when the digital economy index is lagged by one period. Further investigation provides no statistically significant evidence for industrial upgrading as a transmission channel. Although digital economy development contributes significantly to the expansion of digital inclusive finance, the evidence is insufficient to establish a complete transmission mechanism through digital inclusive finance. These results imply that policies promoting the digital economy should place greater emphasis on narrowing the urban-rural digital divide. In particular, strengthening digital infrastructure in rural areas, improving rural residents’ digital capabilities, and enhancing the effectiveness of digital financial services may enable the gains from digital transformation to be distributed more evenly between urban and rural populations.