IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0320080.html

Digital inclusive finance penetration and household debt maturity structure: Empirical estimation based on China Family Panel Studies Data

Author

Listed:
  • Jiayu Hou
  • Yingli Zhang

Abstract

This paper analyzes how the penetration of digital inclusive finance affects the maturity structure of household debt by matching data from the Peking University Digital Inclusive Finance Index and China Family Panel Studies (CFPS). Based on the conclusion, the broader penetration of digital inclusive finance has significantly improved the households’ long-term debt level, thereby contributing to a longer-term trend in the maturity structure of household debt. Simultaneously, the effect is more evident in households with high income, large consumption expenditure, low asset levels, and no credit constraints, as well as households in central and western regions and those with high housing prices. According to the mechanism research, there are three transmission channels: the liquidity constraint of credit, household mental accounting, and the traditional bank competition. Therefore, we should focus not only on how digital inclusive finance impact on the overall scale of household debt, but also on how to create a reasonable debt maturity structure conducive to prevent financial risks.

Suggested Citation

  • Jiayu Hou & Yingli Zhang, 2025. "Digital inclusive finance penetration and household debt maturity structure: Empirical estimation based on China Family Panel Studies Data," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 20(4), pages 1-22, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0320080
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0320080
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0320080
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0320080&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0320080?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lael Brainard, 2016. "The Use of Distributed Ledger Technologies in Payment, Clearing, and Settlement : a speech at the Institute of International Finance Blockchain Roundtable, Washington, D.C., April 14, 2016," Speech 895, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    2. Carlos Madeira, 2023. "Adverse selection, loan access and default behavior in the Chilean consumer debt market," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 9(1), pages 1-29, December.
    3. Tobias Berg & Valentin Burg & Ana Gombović & Manju Puri, 2020. "On the Rise of FinTechs: Credit Scoring Using Digital Footprints," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 33(7), pages 2845-2897.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yunpeng Zhang & Fan Wang & Lijian Wei, 2026. "Personality traits and online credit decisions: evidence from mobile phone data," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 12(1), pages 1-43, December.
    2. Lucas A. Mariani & José Renato H. Ornelas & Bernardo Ricca, 2023. "Banks’ Physical Footprint and Financial Technology Adoption," ERSA Working Paper Series 26, Economic Research Southern Africa.
    3. Lu, Yao & Zhan, Shuwei & Zhan, Minghua, 2024. "Has FinTech changed the sensitivity of corporate investment to interest rates?—Evidence from China," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    4. Sun, Xiaoyan & Xie, Xuanli, 2024. "How does digital finance promote entrepreneurship? The roles of traditional financial institutions and BigTech firms," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    5. Wu, Wenyang & Tang, Shenfeng, 2024. "Bank credit in the digital age: Expansion or excessive expansion?," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    6. Li, Yawen & Xia, Yufei & Sun, Zongting & Sun, Naili, 2025. "Does digital transformation affect systemic risk? Evidence from the banking sector in China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    7. Sumin Hu & Qi Zhu & Xia Zhao & Ziyue Xu, 2023. "Digital Finance and Corporate Sustainability Performance: Promoting or Restricting? Evidence from China’s Listed Companies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-16, June.
    8. Kevin Bauer & Andreas Grunewald & Florian Hett & Johanna Jagow & Maximilian Speicher, 2026. "Treatment Targeting by Scaled Behavioral Measurement," CESifo Working Paper Series 12772, CESifo.
    9. Doerr, Sebastian & Frost, Jon & Gambacorta, Leonardo & Shreeti, Vatsala, 2023. "Big techs in finance," CEPR Discussion Papers 18665, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    10. Liu, Yangjingzhuo & Wang, Daoping & Fan, Xiaoyun, 2026. "Fintech, systemic risk and bank performance: Based on the perspective of systemic-risk-adjusted performance," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    11. BAHNEAN Paul-Gheorghe & MESTERU Emanuel George & BRATU Renate Doina, 2025. "Behavioural Changes And Trends In Commercial Banks' Lending Policies For Companies In Romania - Perspectives For The New Decade," Revista Economica, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Faculty of Economic Sciences, vol. 77(3), pages 22-29, December.
    12. Lu, Yao & Li, Lu & Zhan, Huanqi & Zhan, Minghua, 2024. "Fintech, information heterogeneity, and the regional distribution effects of corporate financing constraints," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    13. Pattnaik, Subhransu & Kramer, Berber & Ward, Patrick, 2026. "Dynamic effects of digital credit on agricultural investment and production: Experimental evidence from India," 2026 Annual Meeting, July 26 - 28, 2026, Kansas City, Missouri 404346, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    14. Rui Xu, 2026. "Fintech Competition and Banks’ Shrinking Margins in Brazil," IMF Working Papers 2026/007, International Monetary Fund.
    15. Kai Feng & Han Hong & Ke Tang & Jingyuan Wang, 2025. "Statistical Tests for Replacing Human Decision Makers with Algorithms," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 71(11), pages 9145-9170, November.
    16. Carbune Daniela Iulia Maria, 2025. "Digitalization And Banking Performance In The European Union: An Empirical Outlook On Npl, Roa, Roe And Desi Index," Annals - Economy Series, Constantin Brancusi University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 6, pages 499-510, December.
    17. Yiyan Huang & Cheuk Hang Leung & Xing Yan & Qi Wu & Nanbo Peng & Dongdong Wang & Zhixiang Huang, 2020. "The Causal Learning of Retail Delinquency," Papers 2012.09448, arXiv.org.
    18. Yidi Liu & Xin Li & Zhiqiang (Eric) Zheng, 2024. "Consequences of China’s 2018 Online Lending Regulation and the Promise of PolicyTech," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 35(3), pages 1235-1256, September.
    19. Kowalewski, Oskar & Pisany, Paweł, 2022. "Banks' consumer lending reaction to fintech and bigtech credit emergence in the context of soft versus hard credit information processing," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    20. Liu Yang & Pujian Yang, 2026. "Multidimensional digital transformation and bank performance in china," Risk Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 28(2), pages 1-30, May.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0320080. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.