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| Digital Village Construction and Common Prosperity in Rural Areas: Based on the Dualistic Perspective of Circumstances and Efforts |
| Chen Wei1, Shi Xinjie1, Zhou Hong2, Fang Shile3 |
1.China Academy for Rural Development / School of Public Affairs / Institute for Common Prosperity and Development, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
2.College of Economics and Management, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing 210095, China
3.School of Management, Wenzhou Business College, Wenzhou 325035, China |
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Abstract Digital rural construction serves as a crucial link among “Digital China”, “rural revitalization” and “common prosperity”, carrying significant implications for achieving high-quality development. This paper empirically examines the extent to which digital rural construction contributes to common prosperity in rural areas by utilizing the county digital rural index alongside matched data from the National Rural Fixed Observation Points Database (2018-2020), employing a multidimensional fixed effects model. The findings of this study indicate that digital rural construction significantly mitigates income inequality in rural settings, with the income inequality deprivation index of farming households decreasing by approximately 11 percentage points for each standard deviation increase in the digital rural index. This result withstands various robustness tests, including an instrumental variables approach.Mechanism analysis reveals that digital village construction effectively bridges both access and usage gaps for low-income farming households, thereby improving their external unfavorable conditions related to home ownership. It emerges as a vital channel through which digital village initiatives promote common prosperity within these communities. Furthermore, digital village construction substantially enhances the participation rates of low-income farmers in local non-agricultural employment and migrant labor markets, suggesting that non-agricultural employment constitutes an important transmission mechanism through which such initiatives stimulate endogenous efforts among low-income farmers, ultimately fostering rural common prosperity. Additionally, it not only increases entrepreneurial opportunities for low-income rural households but also leads to significant improvements overall.The heterogeneity analysis presented in this paper reveals that farm households situated in regions with higher levels of digitalization within the rural economy derive greater benefits from digital rural construction. This initiative significantly mitigates inequality in wage income and non-farm business income among farm households, while paradoxically increasing inequality in net farm income. An examination of regional sub-differences indicates that digital rural construction plays a more critical role in reducing income inequality among farm households located in the eastern region. Furthermore, villages engaged in e-commerce or hosting representative outlets experience a more pronounced impact from digital rural construction on diminishing income disparities among their farming communities. Further discussion highlights that digital village construction markedly enhances the likelihood of low-income farm households transitioning into middle- and high-income brackets, as well as expanding these higher-income groups. The positive effects on income growth attributable to digital village construction are particularly evident for those farm households characterized by low human capital, limited social capital, and minimal financial resources. There exist notable differences regarding the advantages conferred by digital village construction across various income levels among farm households. Generally speaking, it is more effective at elevating the incomes of low-income families. This suggests that digital village construction embodies an inclusive approach to economic development.Finally, this paper proposes countermeasures aimed at optimizing rural digital infrastructure, enhancing the training system for farmers’ digital skills, and establishing a support system for farmers’ employment and entrepreneurship. The innovation of this study is twofold: first, it constructs a dualistic analytical framework of “circumstances-effort” at the theoretical level to explore the formation of income inequality and its alleviation mechanisms from the perspective of unequal opportunities, thereby enriching the theoretical discourse in this field; second, it introduces the Kakwani relative deprivation index at an empirical level as a critical factor influencing the development of digital villages in China. Additionally, by employing the Kakwani relative deprivation index to refine measurements of rural common prosperity down to individual farm households, this research conducts multidimensional heterogeneity analysis and path testing. This approach provides significant empirical evidence that contributes to ongoing research in this area.
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Received: 23 May 2024
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2025, Vol. 55 
