Digital finance is beneficial for expanding the breadth and depth of financial services, and has important value in accelerating the cultivation of new quality productive forces and promoting the modernization of Chinese rural governance. In this context, exploring the impact of digital finance on the modernization of Chinese rural governance has become a core issue. However, there is currently little literature examining the impact of digital finance on the modernization of Chinese rural governance, and even fewer scholars have included new quality productive forces in their research, which provides an opportunity for this study.
Based on the China Statistical Yearbook, China Rural Statistical Yearbook, China Statistical Yearbook (County-level), China Statistical Yearbook on Environment, China Statistical Yearbook on Science and Technology, Wind database, and EPS database, This article selects panel data from 31 provincial-level regions in China from 2013 to 2022, draws on the research results of Wang et al. (2023) and Li (2023), and uses the entropy method to calculate the comprehensive index of modernization of Chinese rural governance, so as to investigate the impact of digital finance on the modernization of Chinese rural governance, and the mechanism of the role of new quality productive forces in it. Empirical research shows that digital finance can significantly drive the modernization of Chinese rural governance, and after considering the effects of changing the calculation methods of the dependent variables, two-stage least squares method, dynamic panel model, etc., the research conclusions remain robust. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the impact of digital finance on the modernization of Chinese rural governance is heterogeneous in terms of digital economy, region, urbanization, and agricultural industry development. Further analysis indicates that there is a spatial spillover effect of digital finance on the modernization of Chinese rural governance. From a regional perspective, in the eastern and central regions, digital finance can promote the modernization of Chinese rural governance in the region and neighboring regions, while in the western and northeastern regions, digital finance has a more significantly positive impact on the modernization of Chinese rural governance, with a weaker impact on neighboring regions.
This article innovatively expands on existing literature in the following aspects. Firstly, it incorporates digital finance, new quality productive forces, and modernization of Chinese rural governance into the same framework for research, and conducts mechanism analysis from a new perspective of new quality productive forces to supplement research gaps in related fields. Secondly, it divides the sample of 31 provincial-level regions according to the level of digital economy development, geographical location, urbanization level, and agricultural development level to explore the heterogeneous impact of digital finance on the modernization of Chinese rural governance, providing reference for promoting the modernization of Chinese rural governance in all aspects. Thirdly, it uses the spatial Durbin model to subdivide the eastern, central, western, and northeastern regions to explore the spatial spillover effects of digital finance on the modernization of Chinese rural governance, hoping to provide targeted ideas and strategies for achieving modernization of Chinese rural governance.
To some extent, this article reveals the internal mechanism between digital finance, new quality productive forces, and the modernization of Chinese rural governance, which is conducive for relevant government departments to formulate more targeted and reasonable policy recommendations for rural revitalization and rural governance under the guidance of the report to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, consolidate policy support for accelerating the modernization of Chinese rural governance in the digital era, and further promote the implementation of Chinese modernization.