By Zhang Shiguo, Economic Research Academy of Management World; Su Fang, Zou Yige & Han Dongmei, Shanghai University of Finance & Economics

Research Report, No.74, 2019 (Total 5574) 2019-5-20

Abstract: Based on the data of “Thousand-Village Survey”, this paper unfolds quantification on rural internet finance inclusiveness of all places by a three-dimensional index system of penetration, usage and utility. In 2017, the average index of China’s rural internet finance inclusiveness was 1.8154, and the overall development was at the upper-middle level. In light of the development of the internet finance inclusiveness in the four major regions, the eastern region ranks the first, the central region takes the second place while the northeast region lags behind; the differences of the internet finance inclusiveness mainly results from the development gaps among these regions, while the inner difference of each region is much less prominent. With regard to the factors that might impact the development of the rural internet finance inclusiveness, the rejection from the rural households, the residential income level and the hardware infrastructure are to blame for the uneven development. In order to solve the problems of the insufficiency and unbalance of China’s rural internet finance inclusiveness, work needs to be done to strengthen the guidance and training on the internet finance for rural residents, improve the income of rural households, promote the public internet infrastructure and enhance the supervision on the internet finance.

Key words: inclusive finance, internet finance, financial supervision, policy options