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China’s Internet Finance Boom and Tyrannies of Inclusion

Loubere, Nicholas LU orcid (2017) In China Perspectives 2017(4). p.9-18
Abstract
One of the main drivers of China’s e-commerce boom is the dramatic expansion of the country’s Internet finance industry, which has grown and diversified at a staggering rate over the past decade. The emergence of Chinese Internet finance has been discussed in largely positive terms as facilitating commercial activity. It has also been linked to the wider developmental goal of promoting financial inclusion through the provision of financial services to previously excluded populations. Emerging from the global microfinance movement, the concept of financial inclusion depicts increased access to financial services (particularly credit) as an inherently beneficial means of empowering the poor and driving bottom-up economic development. This... (More)
One of the main drivers of China’s e-commerce boom is the dramatic expansion of the country’s Internet finance industry, which has grown and diversified at a staggering rate over the past decade. The emergence of Chinese Internet finance has been discussed in largely positive terms as facilitating commercial activity. It has also been linked to the wider developmental goal of promoting financial inclusion through the provision of financial services to previously excluded populations. Emerging from the global microfinance movement, the concept of financial inclusion depicts increased access to financial services (particularly credit) as an inherently beneficial means of empowering the poor and driving bottom-up economic development. This article challenges this dominant narrative of beneficial digital financial inclusion in China. It draws on the growing body of literature critiquing the global financial inclusion movement, and examines examples of exploitation, fraud, instability, and extraction related to expanded digital financial coverage in contemporary China. It then demonstrates that digital financial inclusion is part and parcel of the Chinese government’s plans to create a social credit system in an attempt to construct a “trustworthy society.” In this way, digital financial inclusion can be seen as a key element in a wider project of expanding surveillance through big data in order to close down spaces for those seeking to contest the hegemonic socioeconomic order. The article argues that these examples illuminate fundamental processes implicit in the expansion of the commercial Internet finance industry. In this way, while the extension of digital financial inclusion in China benefits certain groups, it also necessarily serves to reproduce patterns of inequality and exploitation. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Internet finance, Financial inclusion, Social credit system, China, Microcredit, Asian studies
in
China Perspectives
volume
2017
issue
4
pages
10 pages
publisher
Hong Kong: French Centre for Research on Contemporary China
external identifiers
  • scopus:85108536885
ISSN
2070-3449
DOI
10.4000/chinaperspectives.7454
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
456424c3-006c-41bd-8f90-9ca36fa6c3d2
alternative location
http://www.cefc.com.hk/issue/china-perspectives-20174/
date added to LUP
2017-11-09 15:03:23
date last changed
2023-11-17 09:01:33
@article{456424c3-006c-41bd-8f90-9ca36fa6c3d2,
  abstract     = {{One of the main drivers of China’s e-commerce boom is the dramatic expansion of the country’s Internet finance industry, which has grown and diversified at a staggering rate over the past decade. The emergence of Chinese Internet finance has been discussed in largely positive terms as facilitating commercial activity. It has also been linked to the wider developmental goal of promoting financial inclusion through the provision of financial services to previously excluded populations. Emerging from the global microfinance movement, the concept of financial inclusion depicts increased access to financial services (particularly credit) as an inherently beneficial means of empowering the poor and driving bottom-up economic development. This article challenges this dominant narrative of beneficial digital financial inclusion in China. It draws on the growing body of literature critiquing the global financial inclusion movement, and examines examples of exploitation, fraud, instability, and extraction related to expanded digital financial coverage in contemporary China. It then demonstrates that digital financial inclusion is part and parcel of the Chinese government’s plans to create a social credit system in an attempt to construct a “trustworthy society.” In this way, digital financial inclusion can be seen as a key element in a wider project of expanding surveillance through big data in order to close down spaces for those seeking to contest the hegemonic socioeconomic order. The article argues that these examples illuminate fundamental processes implicit in the expansion of the commercial Internet finance industry. In this way, while the extension of digital financial inclusion in China benefits certain groups, it also necessarily serves to reproduce patterns of inequality and exploitation.}},
  author       = {{Loubere, Nicholas}},
  issn         = {{2070-3449}},
  keywords     = {{Internet finance; Financial inclusion; Social credit system; China; Microcredit; Asian studies}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{9--18}},
  publisher    = {{Hong Kong: French Centre for Research on Contemporary China}},
  series       = {{China Perspectives}},
  title        = {{China’s Internet Finance Boom and Tyrannies of Inclusion}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.4000/chinaperspectives.7454}},
  doi          = {{10.4000/chinaperspectives.7454}},
  volume       = {{2017}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}