IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i13p5330-d1420340.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Has Digital Village Construction Narrowed the Urban–Rural Income Gap: Evidence from Chinese Counties

Author

Listed:
  • Ying Liu

    (College of Economics and Management, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China)

  • Haoyi Zhang

    (College of Economics and Management, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China)

  • Manxiu Ning

    (College of Economics and Management, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China)

  • Linping Wang

    (College of Economics and Management, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou 350002, China)

Abstract

Can the backward endowments of rural areas support digital village construction to attain the expected results? If the answer is yes, what are the mechanisms involved? Answering these questions is related to common prosperity. Counties are China’s frontline commanders, and the urban–rural income gap is a suitable entry point for observing the urban–rural digital divide; however, there is limited research assessing the effectiveness of digital village construction from the perspective of the urban–rural income gap at the county level. In addition, counties lifted out of poverty, as counties with worse initial endowments and as counties that should be most concerned with common wealth, are more typical for examining the effectiveness of digital rural construction; however, there are few studies on counties lifted out of poverty. Based on cross-sectional data from 865 counties in China in 2020, this study empirically analyzes the impact of digital village construction on the urban–rural income gap using an OLS model. This study also conducts mechanism tests and poverty benefit tests in addition to heterogeneity and robustness tests. The findings indicate that the development of digital villages lowers the income difference between urban and rural areas, and that the shift in the industrial structure is a key driver of this effect. Different construction dimensions have varying degrees of impact, with digital infrastructure and the digitalization of the economy having the most significant impact, the digitalization of countryside governance coming second, and the digitalization of countryside life having the most negligible impact. The impact is more pronounced in the central-eastern region of China and counties that have just been lifted out of poverty than in the western region and counties that have never been in poverty. The government will benefit greatly from this study’s understanding of the main themes, areas, and scope of digital rural construction, which will help to expand and further integrate the outcomes of reducing poverty and fostering shared prosperity.

Suggested Citation

  • Ying Liu & Haoyi Zhang & Manxiu Ning & Linping Wang, 2024. "Has Digital Village Construction Narrowed the Urban–Rural Income Gap: Evidence from Chinese Counties," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-25, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:13:p:5330-:d:1420340
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/13/5330/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/13/5330/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Prieger, James E., 2013. "The broadband digital divide and the economic benefits of mobile broadband for rural areas," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(6), pages 483-502.
    2. Pingping Wang & Chaozhu Li & Chenghao Huang, 2023. "The Impact of Digital Village Construction on County-Level Economic Growth and Its Driving Mechanisms: Evidence from China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-14, September.
    3. Zepu Zhang & Chen Sun & Jing Wang, 2023. "How Can the Digital Economy Promote the Integration of Rural Industries—Taking China as an Example," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-21, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Muziyun Liu & Hui Liu, 2024. "The Influence and Mechanism of Digital Village Construction on the Urban–Rural Income Gap under the Goal of Common Prosperity," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-20, May.
    2. Zijun Mao & Xiyue Zhu & Qi Zou & Wen Jin, 2024. "How Can Digital Villages Improve Basic Public Services Delivery in Rural Areas? Evidence from 1840 Counties in China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-20, October.
    3. Granguillhome Ochoa, Rogelio & Lach, Samantha & Masaki, Takaaki & Rodríguez-Castelán, Carlos, 2022. "Mobile internet adoption in West Africa," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    4. Pradhan, Rudra P. & Arvin, Mak B. & Norman, Neville R., 2015. "The dynamics of information and communications technologies infrastructure, economic growth, and financial development: Evidence from Asian countries," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 135-149.
    5. Margarita Billon & Rocio Marco & Fernando Lera-Lopez, 2017. "Innovation and ICT use in the EU: an analysis of regional drivers," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 53(3), pages 1083-1108, November.
    6. Lili Li & Yiwu Zeng & Zi Ye & Hongdong Guo, 2021. "E‐commerce development and urban‐rural income gap: Evidence from Zhejiang Province, China," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 100(2), pages 475-494, April.
    7. Brian E. Whitacre & David Shideler & Randi Williams, 2016. "Do Incentive Programs Cause Growth? The Case of the Oklahoma Quality Jobs Program and Community-Level Economic Growth," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 30(1), pages 62-74, February.
    8. Sadaf Bashir & Bert Sadowski, 2014. "General Purpose Technologies: A Survey, a Critique and Future Research Directions," Working Papers 14-02, Eindhoven Center for Innovation Studies, revised Feb 2014.
    9. Grishchenko, Natalia, 2020. "The gap not only closes: Resistance and reverse shifts in the digital divide in Russia," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(8).
    10. Oughton, Edward J. & Amaglobeli, David & Moszoro, Marian, 2023. "What would it cost to connect the unconnected? Estimating global universal broadband infrastructure investment," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(10).
    11. Steven Deller & Brian Whitacre & Tessa Conroy, 2022. "Rural broadband speeds and business startup rates," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 104(3), pages 999-1025, May.
    12. Ajoy Ketan Sarangi & Rudra Prakash Pradhan, 2020. "ICT infrastructure and economic growth: a critical assessment and some policy implications," DECISION: Official Journal of the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, Springer;Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, vol. 47(4), pages 363-383, December.
    13. Jiaxuan Li & Zhiyuan Peng, 2024. "Impact of Digital Villages on Agricultural Green Growth Based on Empirical Analysis of Chinese Provincial Data," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(21), pages 1-27, November.
    14. Rendon Schneir, Juan & Xiong, Yupeng, 2016. "A cost study of fixed broadband access networks for rural areas," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(8), pages 755-773.
    15. Matteucci, Nicola, 2019. "The EU State aid policy for broadband: An evaluation of the Italian experience with first generation networks," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(9).
    16. Nadezhda Shmeleva & Tatyana Tolstykh & Viktoria Krasnobaeva & Diana Boboshko & Denis Lazarenko, 2024. "Network Integration as a Tool for Sustainable Business Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(21), pages 1-25, October.
    17. Martin Quinn & Miguel Godinho de Matos & Christian Peukert, 2022. "The Welfare Effects of Mobile Internet Access - Evidence from Roam-Like-at-Home," CESifo Working Paper Series 9612, CESifo.
    18. Tiantian Su & Cuixia Li, 2024. "Has the Digital Economy Boosted Carbon Reduction in Livestock Farming in China?," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-23, September.
    19. Pick, James B. & Sarkar, Avijit & Johnson, Jeremy, 2015. "United States digital divide: State level analysis of spatial clustering and multivariate determinants of ICT utilization," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 16-32.
    20. Lu Kong & Hessam Sadatsafavi & Rohit Verma, 2019. "Usage and Impact of Information and Communication Technologies in Healthcare Delivery," Service Science, INFORMS, vol. 11(3), pages 172-188, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:13:p:5330-:d:1420340. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.