Abstract Based on the data of 284 cities above prefecture level in China from 2011 to 2020, this paper empirically examines the comprehensive impact of digital inclusive finance on urban economic disparity. The results show that digital inclusive finance can significantly narrow the urban economic gap, and the geographical location and institutional environment will produce heterogeneity. Innovation and entrepreneurship play an intermediary role in narrowing the urban economic gap by digital inclusive finance, which shows that digital inclusive finance can promote urban innovation and entrepreneurship and indirectly narrow the urban economic gap. Factor agglomeration has a positive regulatory effect on digital inclusive finance to narrow the urban economic gap, that is, the improvement of talent, capital and technology agglomeration will weaken the balanced development of digital inclusive finance. Based on the above conclusions, this paper puts forward some policy suggestions, such as moderately advancing the construction of digital infrastructure, mining the application scenarios of digital financial inclusion, and speeding up institutional innovation with regional integration as the core.
2023, Vol. 40 
