Supply Chain Digitalization and Rural Revitalization: Evidence from the Supply Chain Innovation and Application Pilot Policy

With the rapid development of the digital economy, empowering rural development through supply chain digitalization has gradually become an important strategy for achieving rural revitalization. This paper treats the supply chain innovation and application pilot policy as a quasi-natural experiment. Using panel data from 286 prefecture-level cities in China from 2012 to 2022, it employs a difference-in-differences model to examine the policy effects of supply chain digitalization on rural revitalization. The empirical results show that supply chain digitalization significantly promotes rural revitalization. It contributes by improving digital infrastructure, enhancing resource allocation efficiency, and facilitating industrial upgrading. The positive effects are particularly pronounced in eastern regions of China, non-resource-based cities, and small to medium-sized cities. Based on these findings, the paper offers the following policy recommendations: (1) leverage supply chain digitalization as a key driver to comprehensively support rural revitalization; (2) strengthen its supporting role in improving infrastructure and industrial systems; and (3) implement region-specific and categorized strategies to maximize its differentiated impacts across various local contexts.