Digital Financial Development and Regional Innovation Performance Gap
WAN Jiayu1, ZHOU Qin2, WU Xiaofei2
1. School of Economics and Management, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China; 2. School of Economics and Management, Southeast University, Nanjing 211189, China
Abstract With the deep integration of technology and the financial market, digital finance has dramatically impacted the innovation gap between regions. Based on the samples of 278 cities in China from 2011 to 2018 and a relational data analysis paradigm, this article uses a secondary assignment procedure to examine the relationship between the development of digital finance and the innovation gap between regions from four levels: full sample, phased, annual, and regional, as well as three dimensions of digital finance coverage, depth of use, and degree of digitization. There are following findings: The balanced development of digital finance is conducive to narrowing the innovation gap between regions in China, and its role is increasing year by year; The contribution of coverage breadth is more significant than that of using depth, and the contribution of digitization is not significant; From the perspective of regional heterogeneity, the role of digital finance in narrowing the innovation gap between regions is only significant in the central and eastern regions. There are differences in the impact of coverage and use depth. At this stage, China should pay attention to and give full play to the potential of digital finance and narrow the gap in innovation level between regions to better achieve the policy goal of inclusive development.
2023, Vol. 40 
