Abstract: Digital infrastructure construction provides new impetus for narrowing the urban-rural income gap. Elucidating the mechanism through which digital infrastructure affects the urban-rural income gap, therefore, is of great significance for optimizing the strategy of digital rural development and achieving common prosperity between urban and rural areas. Based on theoretical analysis of the mechanism of narrowing the urban-rural income gap by digital infrastructure construction, empirical tests reveal that the construction of digital infrastructure significantly reduces the urban-rural income gap; and particularly it significantly raises rural residents’ wage income, property income, and transfer income. The mechanism tests indicate that the core mechanism that lies behind is achieved through the impacts of information expansion, job creation, and enhancement of human capital. The threshold effect tests show that the role of digital infrastructure is significantly enhanced when the level of marketization, human capital, and physical infrastructure improves. The research findings provide a new perspective and empirical evidence for understanding the relationship between digital infrastructure and the urban-rural income gap, and offer reference for promoting common prosperity between urban and rural areas.

Key words: digital infrastructure, urban-rural income gap, rural informatization, employment for labor force, human capital