INTERNET USE, FINANCE ACQUISITION AND RETURNING MIGRANT WORKERS’ HOME ENTREPRENEURSHIP — EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS BASED ON CLDS2016

Abstract

Whether Internet use can inspire returning migrant workers’ home entrepreneurship is of great practical significance for promoting rural revitalization. Based on the data of China Labor Dynamic Survey (CLDS) in 2016, this paper empirically studies the impact of Internet use on returning migrant workers’ home entrepreneurship. The results show that, firstly, Internet use can significantly improve the entrepreneurial probability of migrant workers returning home by 8%. The results remain significant after using the instrumental variables method for endogenous problem solving and propensity score matching, changing the sample size for robustness testing. Secondly, Internet use promotes migrant workers returning home to make entrepreneurial choices mainly through expanding informal finance and obtaining formal finance. However, the mechanism of expanding informal finance has only been effective for returning migrant workers with higher level of social trust. Thirdly, Internet use has heterogeneous impact on returning migrant workers’ home entrepreneurship, which is reflected in the fact that Internet use will more significantly promote the entrepreneurial probability of migrant workers returning home with necessity entrepreneurship motivation, close to banks, eastern and central regions and developed areas, and internet use will also significantly promote the probability of opportunity entrepreneurship among migrant workers returning home who are satisfied with their household economic situation. Therefore, it is necessary to further improve the construction of broadband infrastructure in rural areas, especially western and developing areas, set up training platforms for returning migrant workers’ home entrepreneurship, promote employment through entrepreneurship and stimulate regional economic vitality, so as to accelerate rural revitalization.