The Influence and Mechanism of Digital Village Construction on the Urban–Rural Income Gap under the Goal of Common Prosperity

Abstract

Digital village construction is not only a vital component of the digital China strategy but also a crucial measure by which to realize common prosperity. This study theoretically elaborates the influence of digital village construction on the urban–rural income gap (URIG) and its mechanism and empirically tests it by using a panel fixed-effect model, a mediating-effect model, and a moderating-effect model based on the provincial data of major producing areas from 2011 to 2020. The results show that digital village construction can significantly narrow the URIG, and rural industry revitalization is a vital channel for digital village construction in driving the decline of the URIG. The construction of transportation infrastructure can significantly enhance the inhibition effect of digital village construction on the URIG. Moreover, there is a human capital threshold for the impact of digital village construction on the URIG; after crossing the threshold, digital village construction better suppresses the URIG. So, the government should increase the financial support and technical support for digital village construction, improving the rural production conditions and industrial development environment and establishing a rural digital talent cultivation mechanism so as to achieve the goal of common prosperity.