Digital Inclusive Finance and Industrial Structure Upgrade - Based on Nonlinear Relationship Perspective

Compared with traditional finance, digital inclusive finance involves particular policies, different targeting, and wider coverage, plays a positive role in promoting the development of the real economy, and upgrades to industrial facilities. Based on the panel data of 288 prefecture-level cities in China from 2011 to 2019, in this study, we empirically examined the impact of digital inclusive finance on upgrades to industrial structures. The experimental results showed a “U”-shaped nonlinear relationship between the development of digital inclusive finance and the upgrades to industrial structure. In particular, this conclusion remained valid after citing instrumental variables, replacing core explanatory variables, and performing other robustness tests. Furthermore, we used the threshold model to test the influence of digital inclusive finance on industrial structure upgrade, and observed a double threshold effect based on digital inclusive finance and local levels of economic development. Therefore, in the dynamic transformation towards digital inclusive finance and continuing economic development, the role of digital inclusive finance in promoting industrial structure upgrade continues to strengthen.