Stimulating the consumption potential of residents and promoting consumption upgrading have become the key to transforming the mode of economic growth and promoting the high-quality development of economy.
Based on the digital inclusive financial index of the Peking University, this paper explores the mechanism of the impact of digital finance on the consumption and consumption upgrading of Chinese residents. The research has the following findings. Firstly, generally speaking, digital finance together with its three dimensions, namely breadth of coverage, depth of usage and degree of digitalization, have significantly improved the overall consumption level of residents and promoted consumption upgrading. Secondly, in the urban-rural test, digital finance not only improves the consumption level of urban and rural residents, but also promotes the consumption upgrading of urban residents. However, the empirical result also shows that digital finance has no significant effect on the consumption upgrading of rural residents. Thirdly, in the regional test, digital finance plays a significant role in promoting the consumer upgrading in the eastern and central regions, but not in the western regions.
According to the research conclusions, this paper suggests that, firstly, the government and communication enterprises should speed up the construction of 5G and other high -speed networks, especially strengthen the infrastructure network construction in Western and rural areas. Secondly, financial institutions and large Internet financial companies should continue to develop information terminals and mobile Internet application software（App） suitable to the characteristics of digital finance, so as to increase the stickiness of customers in using digital finance. Thirdly, we should strengthen the education and popularization of digital finance knowledge among rural residents, improve their financial literacy and acceptance of digital finance, take multiple measures to promote the economic development level of the western region.