“Digital Prosperity” or “Digital Worry”: Family Digitization and Financial Asset Allocation
International Journal of Finance & Economics
Published online on June 07, 2026
Abstract
["International Journal of Finance &Economics, EarlyView. ", "\nABSTRACT\nThis paper examines how household digitalization affects financial asset allocation in the digital economy era. Using data from the 2017 and 2019 China Household Finance Survey (CHFS), we construct a household digitalization index based on digital access and usage. Employing a fixed effects model, we find that digitalization significantly increases both the share and variety of risky financial assets while reducing the share of risk‐free assets in household portfolios. These results suggest that digitalization leads to greater portfolio diversification, particularly toward riskier investments. Mechanism analysis indicates that digitalization operates through improved financial literacy, relaxed liquidity constraints, and expanded income sources. Our findings provide micro‐level evidence that the development of the digital economy can enhance the efficiency of household financial asset allocation.\n"]