Fintech, Growth and Inequality: Evidence From China’s Household Survey Data

This paper represents an early attempt to investigate the growth and distributional effects of Fintech development, using household survey data from China. China’s rapid expansion of Fintech in the past decade has significantly improved the accessibility and affordability of financial services, particularly for formerly financially excluded population groups. Linking the index of digital financial inclusion with China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) data, we find that Fintech development is positively correlated with household income, and the positive effect is larger for rural households than the urban counterpart, suggesting that Fintech development has helped narrow the urban–rural income gap. Moreover, the poor gain more than the rich from Fintech development in rural China, indicating its benign distributive impacts within rural China.