Journal of Statistics and Information

The consumption gap between urban and rural residents is an important indicator for measuring social equity and balanced economic development.During the transition period of opening-up from “exchanging market for technology” to “driving innovation through system”,deepening multidimensional opening-up to drive the orderly flow of resources and factors to rural areas is the key path to bridging the consumption gap between urban and rural residents and promoting common prosperity.First,ageneral equilibrium model that incorporates both urban and rural production sectors and representative household is developed to systematically examine how multidimensional opening-up narrows the urban-rural consumption gap,with particular attention to the role of technology diffusion.Second,a comprehensive evaluation system is constructed,comprising a multidimensional opening-up index(covering trade,investment,tourism,and labor services)and a technology diffusion index(assessing performance,carriers,and support).Using the entropy method,we calculate these indices for 30 Chinese provinces.Finally,based on panel data from 2013 to 2020,this paper empirically analyzes the impact of multidimensional opening-up on the consumption gap and the role of technology diffusion in this process.This study indicates that multidimensional opening-up contributes to narrowing the consumption gap between urban and rural residents.Mechanism analysis reveals that technology diffusion serves as the key channel through which multidimensional opening-up promotes the narrowing of the consumption gap between urban and rural residents.Heterogeneity analysis shows that among the various dimensions of multidimensional opening-up,trade openness,investment openness,and tourism openness have a significant effect on narrowing the consumption gap between urban and rural residents,while the impact of labor openness on narrowing the consumption gap is not statistically significant.The effect of multidimensional opening-up on narrowing the consumption gap between urban and rural residents is only significant in eastern provinces,provinces with advanced industrial structures,and provinces with high levels of digital inclusive finance.Further analysis shows that multidimensional opening-up has significant spatial spillover effects on technology diffusion and consumption gap between urban and rural residents.According to the analysis above,the following policy suggestions are provided:it is necessary to optimize agricultural services related to multidimensional opening-up and deepen two-way agricultural international cooperation,promote the adoption of international advanced technologies by various entities,strengthen the demonstration and leading role of technology diffusion,and enhance human capital support,coordinate the allocation of open resources,implement regional differentiation strategies,build crossprovince technology collaboration and logistics networks.By clarifying how multidimensional opening-up affects the consumption gap between urban and rural residents and role of technology diffusion,this study provides theoretical and empirical references for the government to promote the fair distribution of opening dividends and realize common prosperity.