How Does the Digital Economy Affect Green Development?—Evidence from 284 Cities in China

Abstract

The expansion of the digital economy has resulted in extensive changes to production factors, production methods, and lifestyles, making it a key factor in green development. In a unified framework, this paper examines the impact of China’s digital economy on green development and the transmission mechanisms of the digital economy. Based on a theoretical analysis of the green attributes and transmission mechanisms of the digital economy, the relationship is empirically examined using the fixed effects model, the instrumental variables method, the quantile regression model, and the mediating effects model with China-specific data from 2011 to 2019. The results indicate that the digital economy has a significant positive impact on green development, and that this impact grows as GTFP (Green Total Factor Productivity) increases. The digital economy has a lasting impact. According to the analysis of heterogeneity, the impact of the digital economy varies significantly between regions, and this disparity exists in both small and large cities. The “digital gap” between high- and low-level cities exacerbates the disparity in the digital economy’s effects. The mechanism analysis reveals that industrial structure rationalization and environmental improvement are the primary means by which the digital economy’s effects are transmitted. Currently, the “innovation-to-application” conversion efficiency is low, and the “demand expansion effect” is greater than the “efficiency enhancement effect”, which impedes the transmission path of green technology innovation and energy use efficiency. The research findings serve as a guide for promoting the development of Digital China and accelerating the green transformation.

The Impact of the Digital Economy on Urban Ecological Resilience: Empirical Evidence from China’s Comprehensive Big Data Pilot Zone Policy

“…In order to mitigate the issue of biased outcomes resulting from omitted variables and in accordance with previous research [41][42][43], the present study has chosen the following control variables: 1 ⃝ population density (lnpop); 2 ⃝ level of science and technology (tech); 3 ⃝ level of urbanization (urban); 4 ⃝ degree of financial development (fd); 5 ⃝ degree of openness to the outside world (open); and 6 ⃝ degree of government intervention (govern). The control variables are measured and the units are shown in Table 3.…”

A Study on the Impact of Digital Transformation on Green Resilience in China

“…Digital transformation not only poses a technological challenge, but also plays an irreplaceable role in greening the transition and promoting green development [20]. The existing literature has examined the digital transformation on carbon emissions, green development [21][22][23][24][25][26][27], etc., but there is a lack of research on its ability to cope with shocks from a resilience perspective. Some scholars have pointed out that it is particularly important to analyze urban greening and coping with the impact of environmental pollution from a resilience perspective [28].…”

“…In conjunction with the research in the paper, at the macro level, scholars have two aspects of research for reference. First, the exploration of the digital economy for green development [21,22]. Most existing scholars believe that the digital economy can promote green development, and then they analyze the heterogeneity from different perspectives, such as Dai and Yang [23] between industries with different energy intensities, as well as Wei and Hou [24] between different regions, different administrative levels, and different policy intensities to test the heterogeneity.…”

Measurement and spatio-temporal heterogeneity analysis of coupling coordination between development of digital economy and agricultural carbon emission performance

“…The digital economy can enhance production efficiency, optimise resource allocation, and reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions through data analysis, mining, and information technology applications [ 5 – 7 ]. By conducting a comprehensive analysis of the interrelationship between the digital economy and agricultural carbon emissions, it is possible to identify more environmentally friendly and efficient methods of agricultural production, explore the potential of the digital economy to assist agriculture in achieving green development, and gain a detailed understanding of the dynamic relationship between the digital economy and agricultural carbon emissions [ 8 – 10 ]. This will provide a scientific foundation for the formulation of more precise regional policies.…”