The impact of digital financial inclusion on China's energy consumption: does economic decentralization matter?

Abstract

 Based on China's provincial panel data from 2011 to 2020, this paper empirically analyzes the impact of digital financial inclusion(DFI) on regional energy consumption(ECI) using two-way fixed effects model, panel threshold effects model and instrumental variables regression. The results show that, firstly, DFI`s development has an obvious inhibitory effect on the intensity of regional energy consumption. Meanwhile, the heterogeneity analysis finds that there are obvious regional differences, differences in the degree of financial agglomeration and differences in their own dimensions in the inhibitory effect of DFI on regional energy consumption. Specifically, the energy-saving effect of digital finance is more obvious in the western region of China, in regions with a lower degree of financial agglomeration, and the strongest inhibitory effect is the breadth of digital inclusion coverage. In addition, the threshold effect analysis shows that the energy-saving effect of DFI not only increases with DFI`s development, but also exists in a non-linear pattern of significant "marginal increment" as the degree of economic decentralization increases. To this end, China should make greater efforts to develop DFI and optimize its industrial structure; formulate differentiated development policies that take into account the resource endowment, industrial structure and technological level of each region; and improve its macroeconomic governance system by taking into account the level of DFI`s development in the region, as well as the power of financial decision-making and financial management..