Research on the Impact of the Development of Small and Medium sized Financial Institutions in Rural Areas on the Income Gap between Urban and Rural Areas
The key to narrowing the income gap between urban and rural areas and realizing the integrated de-velopment of urban and rural areas is to give priority to the development of agriculture and rural areas.On the basis of adhering to"the attribute characteristics and quantity distribution of financial institutions have an important im-pact on the capital scale and supply flow",this paper empirically tests the impact of the development of small and medium-sized rural financial institutions on the urban-rural income gap based on China's provincial panel data from 2008 to 2021.The results show that,different from most previous conclusions of rural financial development expanding the income gap between urban and rural areas,the development of small and medium-sized rural finan-cial institutions measured by the number of small and medium-sized bank outlets per 10000 people in rural areas can significantly narrow the income gap between urban and rural areas.This effect is still valid after a series of en-dogenous and robustness tests.The mechanism analysis and test of this role show that small and medium-sized ru-ral financial institutions can narrow the income gap between urban and rural areas by increasing the added value of primary industry,improving agricultural productivity and promoting the development of small and medium-sized ru-ral enterprises.This study find deepens the financial development theory,provides a certain theoretical basis for the reform of the financial market system,helps to understand the influencing factors of the urban-rural income gap from a completely new perspective,and has an important reference value for high-quality economic development and the improvement of income distribution.
Urban-rural integrationRural revitalizationSmall and medium-sized rural financial institutionsUrban-rural income gap