The Impact of New-Quality Productive Forces on the Urban–Rural Income Gap— From a Human Capital Perspective
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54097/w2wyqp40Keywords:
New-quality productive forces; Urban–rural income gap; Human capital; Threshold-effect model.Abstract
Exploring the mechanisms through which new-quality productive forces affect the urban–rural income gap holds significant theoretical and practical value for promoting coordinated urban–rural development. Using panel data from 31 Chinese provinces covering the period 2011–2022, this paper systematically examines the impact of new-quality productive forces on the urban–rural income gap from the perspective of human capital. The findings indicate that: (1) new-quality productive forces exert a significant positive effect on the urban–rural income gap, exhibiting an “inverted U-shaped” pattern; (2) this effect is subject to a human-capital-based threshold mechanism, whereby at different stages of human capital accumulation, the impact varies—alternating between narrowing, widening, and a weakening positive effect; (3) there exists pronounced regional heterogeneity, with stronger effects in the central and western regions, weaker effects in the east, and statistically insignificant effects in the northeast. Finally, drawing on these results, the paper proposes policy recommendations aimed at fostering the balanced development of new-quality productive forces while effectively narrowing the urban–rural income gap.
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