From Fintech to Eco-Tech: The Catalytic Role of Digital Inclusion in China's Green Productivity Surge

Digital financial inclusion (DFI) is of extraordinary significance for green total factor productivity (GTFP). To estimate the impact on the efficiency of the green economy through digital financial inclusion, this paper analyzes and develops an innovative approach: the regression with artificial neural network (ANN) and bootstrapping (RAB) method. This study is the first to employ machine learning methods in examining the correlation between digital financial inclusion and GTFP. Our study makes a vital contribution by unveiling the potential non-linear relationship between the two variables, using the ANN model complemented by advanced machine learning techniques. We find that how inclusion in digital finance would impact an economy’s sustainable development varies, depending on the economy’s current intensity of involvement in DFI. Explore the combined effect of DFI and some other driving factors on GTFP. Eight variables are selected, encompassing aspects such as demographic change, industrial structure, human capital, technological development, and foreign influences. The results reveal that urbanization, industrialization, and industrial upgrading can promote green initiatives, particularly when the economy is still in its early stages of development. The relationships between human capital, public expenditure, and the GEE are complex, as a wide range of context-specific factors collectively shape them. An “inverted U-shaped” or a “U-shaped” relationship is observed, respectively, when it comes to the correlation between GTFP and foreign influences or GTFP and the government’s expenditure on science and technology development.