Intangible cultural heritage (ICH), as a form of cultural capital, plays a vital role in advancing rural revitalization and promoting common prosperity among farmers. In recent years, national and local governments in China have introduced a series of policies to unlock the potential of ICH in enhancing rural incomes. However, the effectiveness of these efforts varies across regions. Meanwhile, the rapid development of the digital economy has enabled broader dissemination of ICH, allowing individuals to generate income beyond traditional geographic constraints. This raises the question of whether ICH protection will affect the common prosperity of farmers in different ways in a digital environment.

Drawing on data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), matched with the national ICH list and city-level panel data, this paper employs fixed-effects models and RIF regressions to empirically evaluate the impact of ICH protection on the common prosperity of farmers and the moderating role of a digital environment. The results show that ICH protection not only enhances farmers’ absolute income, but also helps narrow income disparities, thereby promoting common prosperity. However, the effects vary across different types of ICH, with craftsmanship and performing arts showing more pronounced benefits. Moreover, a favorable digital environment significantly amplifies the positive effect of ICH protection on absolute income, while its effect on reducing income inequality is somewhat diminished. Mechanism testing further reveals that the promotion of non-agricultural employment and the return migration of rural labor are key channels through which digitalization exerts its moderating influence.

This paper makes the following marginal contributions: First, it enriches the literature on rural revitalization and common prosperity by providing empirical evidence on the role of ICH protection, thus expanding the empirical scope of common prosperity research. Second, it extends the research frontier of cultural economics by incorporating rural and digital economic development into its analytical framework. By identifying the heterogeneous effects of different types of ICH and the moderating role of digitalization, this paper offers practical insights for leveraging local cultural resources to advance the common prosperity of farmers.