Can information and communication technologies boost rural households’ income and narrow the rural income disparity in China?

Using panel data from National Rural Fixed Point Survey and a supplementary survey about rural ICT projects, this paper empirically analyzes the impact of ICTs on rural households’ income and income disparity in China. The results show that ICTs promotes the growth of total income and wage income of rural households, and has an inhibitory effect on agricultural income, but this inhibitory effect gradually disappears in the process of rural ICT development. The positive effect of ICTs on rural households’ total income is enduring. The heterogeneous analysis further indicates that the income-increasing effect of ICTs is more pronounced for higher-income and higher-educated farmers, which exacerbates the income disparity in rural areas.