Food Security and Digital Inclusive Finance: Evidence From China

Drawing on panel data collected from 281 Chinese cities at the prefecture level between 2012 and 2020, this study develops a multidimensional food security index that accounts for four key aspects: usability, availability, sustainability, and stability. Initially, the research investigates spatial distribution, evolutionary patterns, and β-convergence dynamics of this index. Subsequently, it empirically evaluates how Digital Inclusive Finance (henceforth named DIF) influences food security, delving into underlying mechanisms, regional disparities, and spatial spillover effects. Results demonstrate that: (1) DIF significantly strengthens food security, a finding supported by comprehensive robustness checks and endogeneity tests. (2) The beneficial influence of DIF operates through advancing industrial structures and narrowing income disparities. (3) The impact is particularly strong in major grain-producing regions, areas with substantial agricultural insurance investment, low fluctuation, and humid or semi-humid climates. Conversely, impacts are minimal or insignificant in non-major grain-producing regions, regions with limited insurance inputs, higher fluctuation, and arid or semi-arid climates. (4) Spatial spillover assessments, employing a rural revitalization-weighted matrix, reveal adverse spillover effects in central and western China, while the eastern region shows no meaningful spatial transmission.