Digital Financial Inclusion and Innovation of MSMEs

Abstract

Digital inclusive finance is a new type of financial service that combines digital finance with inclusive finance. It is of great significance for improving the accessibility of financial services for small- and medium-sized enterprises and promoting their development. In this paper, we merge the Peking University Digital Financial Inclusion Index of China with the innovation data of micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) from the National Bureau of Statistics, verify the facilitating effect of the development of digital financial inclusion on the technological innovation of MSMEs, and explain the mechanism of the influence of digital finance on the innovation of MSMEs from the perspective of alleviating financing constraints and promoting consumption. Digital inclusive finance has a promoting effect on the technological innovation of enterprises of different technological levels, but the support for high-tech enterprises is still insufficient. The heterogeneity analysis found that there are significant differences in the regional effects of digital financial inclusion; the central and western regions compared to the eastern region have better performance of digital inclusive finance to promote enterprise innovation.