Mobile payment and subjective well-being in rural China

Figures & data

Table 1. Variable definition.

Variables	Definition
SWB	Happy = 3; indifferent = 2; unhappy = 1
Mobile payment	Use = 1; Non-use = 0
Percentage usage	Mobile payment usage percentage of others within a village
Age	Householder age
Age squared	The square of householder age divided by 100
Gender	Female = 1; male = 0
Marriage	Married =1; others = 0
Education	Unschooled = 1; primary school = 2; middle school = 3; high school = 4; college degree and above = 5
Politics status	Party member = 1; others = 0
Self-rated health	Healthy = 1; unhealthy = 0
Elderly dependency ratio	The percentage of the number of the elderly over 65 divided by the number of people aged 15–64 in the household
Child dependency ratio	The percentage of the number of children less than 14 divided by the number of people aged 15–64 in the household
Average household income	Household per capita income, 10,000 yuan
Agricultural income	Total family agricultural income, 10,000 yuan
Savings	Household fixed deposit, 10,000 yuan
Debt-income ratio	The percentage of total household debt divided by income
Consumption-income ratio	The percentage of total household consumption divided by income
Risk appetite	What kind of investment project are you willing to choose? (High risk = 3; average = 2; low risk = 1)
Housing	Housing ownership =1; others = 0

Source: Variables and data are downloaded from the C.H.F.S. and calculated by authors.

Table 2. Descriptive statistics.

	Full sample			Mobile payment non-use	Mobile payment use	T-test
	N	Mean	SD	Mean	Mean
SWB	12,392	2.630	0.605	2.626	2.663	−0.037**
Mobile payment	12,408	0.105	0.307
Percentage usage	12,408	0.104	0.107	0.096	0.176	−0.080***
Age	12,404	57.030	12.170	58.013	48.619	9.394***
Age squared	12,404	34.000	13.990	35.095	24.681	10.414***
Gender	12,408	0.888	0.315	0.883	0.933	−0.050***
Marriage	12,403	0.873	0.333	0.865	0.943	−0.078***
Education	12,395	2.466	0.899	2.411	2.933	−0.522***
Political status	12,016	0.066	0.250	0.065	0.084	−0.019**
Self-rated health	12,400	0.839	0.367	0.831	0.907	−0.076***
Child dependency ratio	12,404	0.117	0.190	0.108	0.188	−0.080***
Elderly dependency ratio	12,404	0.229	0.335	0.246	0.083	0.163***
Average household income	12,404	3.232	1.760	3.276	2.856	0.420***
Agricultural income	12,408	1.000	2.359	0.941	1.501	−0.561***
Savings	12,408	0.157	0.515	0.139	0.305	−0.166***
Debt-income ratio	12,345	1.835	6.649	1.856	1.649	0.207
Consumption-income ratio	12,345	3.616	10.170	3.746	2.523	1.223***
Risk appetite	12,407	1.320	0.588	1.303	1.462	−0.159***
Housing	12,402	0.934	0.249	0.933	0.940	−0.007

Source: Variables and data are downloaded from the C.H.F.S. and calculated by authors.

Table 3. The effect of mobile payment on the S.W.B. of rural residents.

	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)
	Ordered probit	OLS	IV-2SLS
Mobile payment	0.034*** (0.013)	0.055*** (0.017)		0.347** (0.147)
Percentage usage			0.416*** (0.041)
Age	−0.015*** (0.003)	−0.018*** (0.004)	−0.018*** (0.002)	−0.012*** (0.005)
Age squared	0.017*** (0.003)	0.021*** (0.003)	0.012*** (0.002)	0.018*** (0.004)
Gender	0.024* (0.014)	0.041* (0.021)	−0.012 (0.007)	0.045** (0.022)
Marriage	0.098*** (0.014)	0.144*** (0.021)	0.012 (0.007)	0.140*** (0.022)
Education	0.016*** (0.005)	0.024*** (0.006)	0.029*** (0.003)	0.014* (0.008)
Political status	0.049*** (0.017)	0.060*** (0.019)	0.007 (0.011)	0.058*** (0.020)
Self-rated health	0.034*** (0.011)	0.047*** (0.015)	0.005 (0.006)	0.045*** (0.016)
Child dependency ratio	0.047** (0.022)	0.071** (0.029)	0.096*** (0.018)	0.043 (0.034)
Elderly dependency ratio	0.020 (0.018)	0.021 (0.023)	−0.012 (0.009)	0.026 (0.024)
Average household income	0.007*** (0.003)	0.011*** (0.004)	−0.004** (0.002)	0.012*** (0.004)
Agricultural income	0.011*** (0.002)	0.012*** (0.002)	0.004*** (0.002)	0.011*** (0.002)
Savings	0.036*** (0.008)	0.041*** (0.009)	0.035*** (0.008)	0.030*** (0.011)
Debt-income ratio	−0.004*** (0.001)	−0.006*** (0.001)	−0.000 (0.000)	−0.006*** (0.001)
Consumption-income ratio	−0.000 (0.000)	−0.001 (0.001)	−0.001** (0.000)	−0.000 (0.001)
Risk appetite	−0.001 (0.003)	−0.001 (0.005)	0.015*** (0.002)	−0.005 (0.005)
Housing	0.009 (0.016)	0.013 (0.021)	−0.013 (0.010)	0.018 (0.022)
Constant		2.585*** (0.131)	0.578*** (0.075)	2.406*** (0.154)
Province fixed effects	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
First stage F value			99.438
Anderson-Rubin Wald test				5.437
p-value				0.020
N	11,919	11,919	11,933	11,919

Note: The significance levels of 1%, 5% and 10% are denoted by ***, ** and *, respectively. Standard errors clustered at the village level are reported in parentheses. Column (1) reports the marginal effect value when SWB equals 3.

Source: Variables and data are downloaded from the C.H.F.S. and calculated by authors.

Table 4. Reducing transaction costs effect of mobile payment.

	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)
	Payment in cash	Online shopping	Online sales	Payment in cash	Online shopping	Online sales
	OLS	OLS	OLS	IV	IV	IV
Mobile payment	−0.057*** (0.008)	0.597*** (0.013)	0.054*** (0.007)	−0.165*** (0.052)	0.954*** (0.108)	0.043 (0.032)
Control variables	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Province fixed effects	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
First stage F value				100.890	101.191	101.441
Anderson-Rubin Wald test				9.664	67.615	1.688
p-value				0.002	0.000	0.194
N	11,933	11,868	11,856	11,933	11,868	11,856

Note: The significance levels of 1%, 5% and 10% are denoted by ***, ** and *, respectively. All regressions include the same control variables and province fixed effects as Table 3. Standard errors clustered at the village level are reported in parentheses.

Source: Variables and data are downloaded from the C.H.F.S. and calculated by authors.

Table 5. Mobile payment and consumption upgrade.

	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)	(7)
	Per capita household consumption	Durable goods consumption	Health care consumption	Enjoyment consumption	Entertainment consumption	Education and training expenditure	Engel's Coefficient
Panel A. OLS
Mobile payment	0.532*** (0.034)	1.349*** (0.128)	0.222*** (0.045)	1.982*** (0.117)	1.423*** (0.099)	1.194*** (0.127)	−0.026*** (0.005)
Panel B. IV
Mobile payment	1.868*** (0.315)	3.666*** (0.873)	0.882*** (0.234)	5.923*** (1.085)	4.401*** (0.717)	3.533*** (0.933)	0.045 (0.051)
First stage F value	100.890	100.890	100.890	100.890	100.890	100.890	100.890
Anderson-Rubin Wald test	36.320	18.032	16.894	38.158	36.814	15.157	0.792
p-value	0.000	0.000	0.000	0.000	0.000	0.000	0.374
N	11,933	11,933	11,933	11,933	11,933	11,933	11,933

Note: The significance levels of 1%, 5% and 10% are denoted by ***, ** and *, respectively. All regressions in the two panels include the same control variables and province fixed effects as Table 3. Standard errors clustered at the village level are reported in parentheses.

Source: Variables and data are downloaded from the C.H.F.S. and calculated by authors.

Table 6. Mobile payment and social networks.

	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)
	Money gift expenditure	Getting money from non-family members	Transportation spending	Communication spending
Panel A. OLS
Mobile payment	0.707*** (0.121)	0.095*** (0.017)	1.690*** (0.100)	0.589*** (0.029)
Panel B. IV
Mobile payment	3.184** (1.478)	0.197 (0.177)	3.410*** (1.058)	2.071*** (0.395)
First stage F value	111.496	101.397	100.890	100.890
Anderson-Rubin Wald test	5.034	1.265	10.209	31.048
p-value	0.025	0.261	0.001	0.000
N	11,677	11,881	11,933	11,933

Note: The significance levels of 1%, 5% and 10% are denoted by ***, ** and *, respectively. All regressions in the two Panels include the same control variables and province fixed effects as Table 3. Standard errors clustered at the village level are reported in parentheses.

Source: Variables and data are downloaded from the C.H.F.S. and calculated by authors.

Table 7. Heterogeneity effects by age, education and income (I.V.-2S.L.S. estimations).

	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)	(6)
	Age		Education		Income
	Young and middle-aged	Elderly	Primary school and below	Junior middle school and above	low- income	high- income
Mobile payment	0.247* (0.148)	0.929** (0.441)	0.595** (0.264)	0.159 (0.176)	0.420** (0.207)	0.321 (0.207)
Control variables	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Province fixed effects	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
First stage F value	72.410	39.329	56.872	60.116	50.359	61.718
Anderson-Rubin Wald test	2.804	5.107	5.314	0.820	4.328	2.344
p-value	0.094	0.024	0.021	0.365	0.037	0.126
N	6,656	5,263	6,322	5,597	5,846	6,073

Note: The significance levels of 1%, 5% and 10% are denoted by ***, ** and *, respectively. All regressions include the same control variables and province fixed effects as Table 3. Standard errors clustered at the village level are reported in parentheses.

Source: Variables and data are downloaded from the C.H.F.S. and calculated by authors.