Study on the impact of digital inclusive finance on rural land transfer and its mechanism : —Empirical evidence from CFPS and PKU-DFIIC

Based on the panel data of CFPS 2014 and 2018, combined with the digital inclusive finance index (PKU-DFIIC) in the corresponding period, we deeply analyzed the degree of impact of digital inclusive finance on rural land transfer and the theoretical mechanism. It is found that, firstly, digital inclusive finance can lower the financial access threshold of farmers and improve their financial accessibility, thus providing beneficial conditions for farmers to adjust their economic decisions and realize the marketization of land transfer. Second, the positive effect of digital inclusive finance on land transfer varies significantly depending on the direction of transfer, subject, and digital inclusive finance dimensions. Third, digital inclusive finance can indirectly drive land transfer through three channels: alleviating information asymmetry, improving financial literacy, and increasing disembedding social capital. Through the posterior performance of the three intermediate channels, it is further concluded that digital inclusive finance can accelerate the land transfer out of farmers through non-farm employment, risk preference, and job stability approaches. It facilitates the research conclusion that farmers’ land transfer in with the help of transaction cost, the scale of operation, and long-term lending path. The paper expands the theoretical research scope of digital inclusive finance. It provides a new perspective and empirical evidence for integrating rural land resource allocation and solid marketization of agricultural land transfer under the general trend of rural revitalization and urban-rural integration.