Has digital financial inclusion improved the quality of China’s green economy?

Abstract

This paper constructs China’s green economy development quality rating index system from two dimensions: green
economy development efficiency and green economy development level, measures China’s provincial green economy
development quality index from 2011 to 2020 using the coupled coordination degree method and empirically
demonstrates the impact of digital inclusive finance on green economy development quality using a panel fixed effects
model. The findings suggest that digital inclusive finance hinders the quality of green economy development in China,
and the conclusions still hold after using instrumental variables to deal with endogeneity; moreover, digital inclusive
finance promotes the level of green economy development while hindering green economy efficiency. Regional and
structural heterogeneity in the quality of digital inclusive finance for green economy development and its variables
across dimensions exist.