Digital Finance and Consumption Penetration: How Credit Access Exacerbates Social Inequality in China’s Consumer Behavior

This study investigates the relationship between digital finance and consumption penetration, aiming to explore whether digital finance exacerbates consumption penetration and its mechanisms and heterogeneous impacts. Based on the 2013–2019 China Household Finance Survey (CHFS) data from Southwestern University of Finance and Economics and the Peking University Digital Financial Inclusion Index (BDUI) matching sample, we conduct empirical research through constructing a panel fixed effects model, combined with robustness tests, instrumental variable methods, heterogeneity analysis, and mediation models. Consumption penetration refers to the phenomenon where low-income groups borrow to imitate high-income consumption patterns. We construct a Consumption Penetration Index (TDCI) using three dimensions: ritual consumption structure upgrading, debt-driven consumption intensity, and consumption pattern convergence, with the Digital Finance Development Index (DFI) as the core explanatory variable while controlling for multiple household and regional variables. Empirical results show that digital finance development significantly intensifies the consumption penetration effect, which remains robust after modifying the sample scope, variable measurement methods, and endogeneity control. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that this effect is more pronounced in regions with lower economic development levels, middle-aged groups (36–59 years old), and low-education populations (middle school or below). Mechanism verification confirms that digital finance enhances credit accessibility and relaxes credit constraints, enabling non-affluent households to emulate high-income consumption patternsFunding support is the key path to influence consumption infiltration.The research conclusions provide a new perspective for understanding consumer behavior in the digital economy era. At the policy level, while promoting the universality of digital finance, we should take targeted measures to prevent excessive lending risks, strengthen financial literacy education for specific groups, and guide healthy consumption.