REVIEW PAPER
The Effect of Digital Financial Inclusion
on Green Total Factor Productivity
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School of Business, Jinling Institute of Technology, Nanjing 211169, China
Submission date: 2025-07-02
Final revision date: 2025-09-07
Acceptance date: 2025-09-13
Online publication date: 2025-10-27
Publication date: 2026-01-02
Corresponding author
Hao Wang
School of Business, Jinling Institute of Technology, Nanjing 211169, China
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. PEaI. 2025;1(1):19-32
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
As the digital era continues to evolve, digital inclusive finance (DIF) has emerged
as a transformative financial service model, significantly enhancing green total factor productivity
(GTFP). Leveraging panel data from 30 Chinese provinces (2013–2023) alongside Peking University’s
Digital Inclusive Finance Index, this study employs a two-way fixed effects model, mediation effect,
and two-stage least squares regression to analyze the influence of digital inclusive finance on GTFP
and its underlying mechanisms. Key findings reveal that: (1) DIF substantially boosts GTFP growth;
(2) in the process of DIF's impact on GTFP, it will cause a decrease in carbon emission intensity (CEI),
which indirectly has a positive effect on GTFP; and (3) its economic impact varies significantly across
regions and stages of DIF development. These insights shed new light on how DIF can drive sustainable
regional development, offering both theoretical and empirical foundations for policymakers pursuing
greener economic transformation.
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