Research On The Effect Of Digital Economy On Regional Green Development

Driving green development and promoting harmony between humans and nature are major decisions and arrangements made during the 20^th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.In recent years,China has made significant progress in green development.The gap between the GDP growth rate and the actual growth rate has been narrowed markedly after environmental factors were taken into consideration,while green total factor productivity has also been improved significantly.Against the backdrop highlighted by the transition of the Chinese economy from the stage of rapid growth into the stage of high-quality development,green development has become an inevitable choice in response to the attempt to resolve the dilemma between economic growth and the constraints of the ecological environment.Meanwhile,the digital economy is an important sector for the new industrial revolution as well as a major battlefield for world powers to compete in.As of 2021,the size of the Chinese digital economy has reached 45.5 trillion yuan,accounting for 39.8%of GDP.The large scale dividend released by the digital economy coexists with green and low-carbon circular economic development system,forming an important tend China.The flourishing digital economy can trigger a comprehensive green revolution,ranging from the introduction of production factors to productivity and production relations,empowering green development on all fronts.Hence,it is of great practical significance to explore the relationship between the digital economy and green development in a systematic way.To this end,this study focuses on the influence of the level of the Chinese digital economy on regional green development,and lays out its contents in the following logical sequence.First,the background and significance of the research are expounded,relevant Chinese and foreign literature is systematically categorized,focusing on summarizing the viewpoints and methods,and lastly,the research problems,approaches and methods were clarified.Subsequently,the concepts,connotations and characteristics of the digital economy and green development were organized to deepen the understanding and grasp of the digital economy and green development.Next,the mechanism by which the digital economy empowers green development is discussed and analyzed based on theoretical research and self-reflection.Furthermore,related statistics are systematically sorted out,before establishing an indicator system to measure the level of the digital economy and green development to comprehensively size up the status quo of the digital economy and green development in different regions.Afterwards,spatial distribution characteristics of the digital economy and green development in different regions of China are analyzed and discussed.Here,the utilization of the dynamic panel model GMM（generalized method of moments）to estimate the direct effect of the digital economy on green development is presented.To reaffirm that the digital economy influences green development uni-directionally and resolve the endogenous problems in causality studies,this study takes the pilot cities of the"Broadband China"project as the external policy impact of the development of the digital economy,and adopts the difference-in-differences model（DID）,which possesses a significant advantage in estimating the impact of external policy,to further strengthen the robustness of key conclusions.Moreover,the application of the Dynamic Spatial Dubin Model to examine the spatial spillover effect of the digital economy was presented,including the scientific evaluation of the spatial spillover effect of the digital economy on regional green development.Following the effect analysis,discussions are made on the influencing mechanism of the digital economy on green development,before putting forward theoretical deductions on the three mechanisms of action,e.g.,the innovation of green technologies,the upgrading of industrial structure and the efficiency of resource allocation.This paper then describes an empirical test carried out with a mediation model,before following that with an empirical analysis of the mechanism research using a threshold model.Finally,the main findings are summarized,and policy recommendations are proposed.The main conclusions and findings of this paper are as follows.First,the digital economy and green development incorporated into various fields in China have progressed to varying degrees,but the digital economy and green development show heterogeneous characteristics in the four major regions.Both the level of the digital economy and green development in the eastern region are higher than the overall national average and are way ahead of the midwestern and northeast regions.Second,generally speaking,the development of the Chinese digital economy has effectively pushed regional green development,but overall,the effect of the digital economy in driving regional green development has shown a descending trend by the order of"eastern region-central region-western region-northeastern region",and the influence of the digital economy on green development diminishes gradually as the level of marketization changes from high to low.In addition,the"Broadband China"policy has contributed significantly to the digital economy’s facilitation of green development,while the construction of digital infrastructure has also facilitated the improvement of green development in this region.Third,the development of the digital economy in different regions is a powerful impetus for local green development,and synergy has been generated through input-output relevancy,thus producing a positive spatial spillover effect on the green development of surrounding areas.Moreover,while the short-term effect of the digital economy on regional green development is relatively weak,the long-term effect is relatively conspicuous.Fourth,when the digital economy index is spread across different ranges,the effect of the digital economy on green development manifests a nonlinear impact.The digital economy promotes green development largely through the significant positive effects brought by the innovation of green technologies,the upgrading of industrial structure and the efficiency of resource allocation.Specifically,the digital economy influences green development by lowering innovation costs and expediting green knowledge spillover.It promotes the integrated development of green technology and production technology,and promote green development by giving full play to the green effect of technological innovation.Furthermore,the digital economy drives the shift of focus of national economic development from factor-intensive industries to technology-intensive and data-intensive industries,and advances the upgrading of industrial structure through digital industrialization and industrial digitalization,thus pushing green development.Meanwhile,the development of the digital economy makes the flow of resources smoother and the distribution of factors more marketized,which helps channel various factors into industries and regions with higher production efficiency,in addition to accelerating green development through the optimization of resource allocation.To further reinforce the role of the digital economy in driving green development,this paper proposes the following policy recommendations:First,in consideration of the differences between regions in the effects of the digital economy in driving green development,it is necessary to implement a dynamic and differentiated digital economy development strategy,encourage the digital economy to empower green development,and ceaselessly narrow the development gap between different regions.Second,the government should continue to increase investment into and intensify the construction of digital infrastructure,advance the building of digital China and smart cities,as well as give full play to the role of digital infrastructure in increasing the efficiency of resource allocation.Moreover,China should continue to unswervingly stick to the basic national policy of opening up to the outside world,accelerate in-depth reform with high-level opening up,and propel the Chinese digital economy to empower green development.Next,it is advisable to follow the spatial evolution pattern of the digital economy,optimize the spatial layout of the digital economy in a scientific way,and better demonstrate the spatial characteristics of the digital economy,i.e.,high creativity,high permeability and wide coverage,as well as fully exploit the positive spatial spillover effect of the digital economy on local and surrounding areas in the process of driving green development.Last but not least,policymakers are advised to provide new infrastructures and key generic technologies by further driving the development of the digital economy,resolve external problems in the green development of conventional industries,create a favorable environment for the digital economy,facilitate comprehensive interconnection,and enhance equipment connectivity of the whole manufacturing chain,business diversity and policy accuracy to facilitate the innovation of green technologies,promote the upgrading of industrial structure,increase the efficiency of resource allocation,and drive green development.