Advancing Equitable Rural Transformation: How Digital Innovation Affects Urban–Rural Income Inequality

Le Tang, Quan Wang, Lai Jiang, Shiyu Sun · 2026 · Journal of Economic Surveys

Summary. Digital innovation reshapes urban-rural income inequality through three mechanisms: digital technology affects earnings differently for skilled and unskilled workers via productivity gains, job displacement, and industrial change; digital infrastructure narrows information gaps and builds rural human capital; digital financial services extend formal banking to excluded rural populations. The paper reviews how these factors influence income distribution and offers policy recommendations for using digital economy benefits to reduce disparities.

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@article{tang-2026-advancing-equitable-rural-transformation-how,
  title   = {Advancing Equitable Rural Transformation: How Digital Innovation Affects Urban–Rural Income Inequality},
  author  = {Le Tang and Quan Wang and Lai Jiang and Shiyu Sun},
  journal = {Journal of Economic Surveys},
  year    = {2026},
  doi     = {10.1111/joes.70096},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.1111/joes.70096}
}

TY  - JOUR
TI  - Advancing Equitable Rural Transformation: How Digital Innovation Affects Urban–Rural Income Inequality
AU  - Le Tang
AU  - Quan Wang
AU  - Lai Jiang
AU  - Shiyu Sun
JO  - Journal of Economic Surveys
PY  - 2026
DO  - 10.1111/joes.70096
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1111/joes.70096
ER  - 

Details

DOI

10.1111/joes.70096

Countries

China

Regions

Asia

Categories

broadband-and-digital, regional-innovation-systems, policy

Added

2026-04-28