Digital Economy, Industrial Structure, and Environmental Quality: Assessing the Roles of Educational Investment, Green Innovation, and Economic Globalization

Abstract

This study constructs a digital economy (DE) index and explores its impact on environmental quality by utilizing data from China’s 287 prefecture-level cities from 2013 to 2019. Unlike past studies, this research examines the indirect effect of DE on environmental pollution through the channels of industrial structure and educational investment. Further, it also analyzes the moderating role of economic globalization and green technology innovation in the nexus between DE and environmental quality. The empirical results indicate that DE significantly and positively enhances environmental quality by mitigating environmental pollution. This outcome remained stable after a series of empirical analyses and stability checks. Secondly, DE positively affects ecological and environmental quality by improving education levels and upgrading industrial structures. Thirdly, green technological innovation and economic globalization positively and significantly moderate the effect of DE development on ecological and environmental quality. Fourthly, associations between the development of DE and environmental quality are heterogeneous in terms of regions and markets, among which the most significant impact exists in the eastern area and the area with higher marketization. Based on the empirical findings, this paper provides comprehensive recommendations for promoting the DE and advancing China’s environmental quality. Based on the results, important policy implications are suggested.

Study on the Coupled and Coordinated Development and Evolution of Digital Economy and Green Technology Innovation

“…This can, on the one hand, reduce the legitimacy costs of enterprise production and end-of-production management pressure, which in a particular sense reduces the pressure on the production environment; on the other hand, green technology innovation can improve resource efficiency and reduce pollution emissions at the source. Green technology innovation reduces the consumption of natural assets, reduces ecological and environmental damage [1], and increases resource allocation efficiency, which can provide new power support and a path of implementation for the intensive high-quality economic development model in China and its complete digital economy transformation and upgrade. The digital economy and green technology innovation development will become the mainstream of China's economic development.…”

The Impact of Digital Economics on Environmental Quality: A System Dynamics Approach

“…Li & Wang, 2022). The platform economy and digital technology have facilitated the connection between service supply in the service industry and end-user demand, helping reduce resource waste caused by information mismatch and untimeliness between supply and demand, and promoting the upgrading of resource allocation in traditional service industries (Zhao et al, 2023).…”

Effects of Big Data on PM2.5: A Study Based on Double Machine Learning

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