Rural Digital Infrastructure and Common Prosperity——Evidence based on the Pilot Project of"Broadband Countryside"and the Pilot Project of Universal Telecommunication Service
This paper takes 286 cities at prefecture level and above in China from 2008 to 2021 as research samples,regards the pilot project of"broadband countryside"and the pilot project of universal service of tel-ecommunication as a quasi-natural experiment of rural digital infrastructure construction,and systematically examines the impact of rural digital infrastructure construction on the economic and social development of the countryside by constructing a multi-period double-difference model.By constructing a multi-period double-difference model,we systematically examined the effect of rural digital infrastructure construction on common prosperity and its internal mechanism.The empirical study finds that the construction of rural digital infrastructure can both alleviate the digital divide and narrow the income gap between urban and rural areas,thus promoting common prosperity.The mechanism lies in the fact that the construction of rural digital infra-structure promotes common prosperity by way of reducing the cost of information access and strengthening the government's digital governance.Extended research also finds that rural digital infrastructure construction has the dual characteristics of time-accumulation effect and strong externalities,which not only has a higher welfare value for the region where it is located the longer it has been in operation,but also makes an impor-tant contribution to the realization of the goal of common prosperity due to the spillover effect on neighboring regions.Accordingly,this paper proposes the following policy implications:strengthening the construction of rural digital infrastructure to facilitate digital empowerment and leapfrogging development towards common prosperity,and accelerating the remediation of shortcomings;coordinating multiple forces to promote digital education,deepening the application of digital governance,and achieving the upgrading of rural digital infrastructure;optimizing the spatial and temporal layout of digital infrastructure,building a network for urban-rural synergetic development,and promoting the sharing of development achievements.
Rural Digital InfrastructureCommon ProsperityBroadband CountrysideThe Pilot Project of Universal Telecommunication ServiceSpatial and Temporal Effects
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