Breaking data silos: public data openness and inclusive growth in digital financial inclusion

As data emerge as a new production factor, unlocking their value hinges on effective circulation and sharing mechanisms. Exploiting panel data for 279 prefecture-level cities in China from 2011 to 2023, this study employs Staggered Difference-in-Differences and Double Machine Learning methods to examine the causal impact and underlying mechanisms of public data openness on digital financial inclusion development. The findings reveal that the establishment of government open data platforms significantly promotes digital financial inclusion. Public data openness operates through two distinct channels: enhancing information matching efficiency and facilitating industrial collaborative agglomeration. The former reduces financial institutions’ information search costs and enables the construction of alternative credit assessment systems, while the latter catalyzes fintech ecosystems and generates knowledge spillover effects. Furthermore, policy effects manifest more prominently in regions characterized by higher marketization levels, well-developed digital infrastructure and abundant human capital endowments.