How Does Digital Inclusive Finance Promote the Integration of Rural Industries? — Based on the Dual Dimensions of Technology and Factors

Promoting rural industrial integration can not only drive the transformation and upgrading of traditional agricultural production modes, but also inject vitality into the diversified development of rural industries, and improve farmers' living standards and sense of happiness. Based on the panel data of 2708 counties in China from 2014 to 2023, this paper constructs a multidimensional evaluation system for rural industrial integration by using the entropy method, and empirically tests the impact, mechanism and regional heterogeneity of digital inclusive finance on rural industrial integration with the double fixed effects model. The results show that digital inclusive finance has a significant positive promoting effect on rural industrial integration, and the conclusion remains robust after endogenous treatment and robustness tests. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that its empowerment effect has regional and stage differences, which only exerts a significant promoting effect on rural industrial integration in the eastern region and the low-level development group. Mechanism tests reveal that digital inclusive finance conducts its influence through the dual paths of technology diffusion and factor allocation, and the "digital inclusive finance → factor allocation → technology diffusion → rural industrial integration" is the core chain empowerment mechanism. The conclusions of this paper provide policy implications for exerting the empowering role of digital inclusive finance in light of local conditions.