Abstract Based on the data of 2017 China Comprehensive Social Survey (CGSS), this paper uses the endogenous transformation model to empirically analyze the relationship between Internet use and farmers' income inequality and its internal mechanism. The results are listed as follows. The use of the Internet has alleviated the income inequality of farmers. Based on the counterfactual hypothesis, if the farmers who do not use the Internet choose to use the Internet, their income inequality will decrease by 21.4%. There is heterogeneity in the impact of Internet use on farmers' income inequality, which is shown by the fact that female, middle-aged and below-average household economic conditions play a greater role in reducing income inequality through the Internet. Based on the counterfactual hypothesis, if farmers who are educated in junior high school or below or whose family economic status is lower than the average choose to use the Internet, their income inequality will decline even more. And if they actually use the Internet and choose not to use it, their income inequality will increase significantly. After replacing explanatory variables and estimation methods, the results are still robust. Besides, the study finds that Internet indirectly affects farmers' income inequality through information effect and employment effect, in which the information effect has a complete intermediary effect and the employment effect has a partial intermediary effect.
2022, Vol. 39 
