A Study On Regional Differences And Convergence Characteristics Of China’s Digital Economy Development

With the rapid speed development of science and technology,modern digital technology industry is booming as well,the time of digital economy has come.After China’s government and enterprises spare no effort and put preferential policies a lot,our digital economy has been in possession of great world competitiveness and potential for growth.However,the problem of unbalanced and insufficient development of digital economy also follows.So we need to focus on the development of digital economy and quality as well.At present,the development level of the digital economy has attracted the attention of many scholars,but there are relatively few literatures on in-depth research from the perspective of the eight major economic zones and exploring their development differences and trends.Therefore,this thesis selects China’s inter provincial data from 2008 to 2019 to study the development level of digital economy in the eight economic regions,which has certain theoretical and practical significance for improving the quality of digital economy development.This thesis mainly conducts research from the following aspects.First,the digital economy development index of China’s eight major economic zones is calculated based on the vertical and horizontal scaling method,and then based on the Dagum Gini coefficient decomposition method to explore the sources of differences and contributions to the development level of the digital economy;secondly,Kernel density estimation and Markov space transfer are used.The matrix analyzes the development level of the digital economy’dynamic evolution trend in the whole sample and sub-regional samples.Finally,this thesis conducts σ convergence and β convergence tests through the coefficient of difference,Moran index and spatial panel measurement model.Analysis of the development trend of the digital economy.This thesis mainly draws the following conclusions:(1)During the sample time,the top ranking in the digital economy development index is the eastern economic zones,and the lowest ranking is the Northwest.The Greater Southwest has the fastest average annual growth rate,but is still significantly behind compared with the highest-ranked eastern coast due to its low initial development level.(2)The overall differences in the development of the digital economy are mainly due to regional differences.During the investigation period,the difference within the middle reaches of the Yangtze River was the smallest,and the southern coast was the largest;the difference between the middle reaches of the Yellow River and the middle reaches of the Yangtze River was the smallest,and the eastern coast to the northwest was the largest.(3)The development level of the digital economy in the whole sample and each economic zone has gradually improved.There are multiple peaks in the two coastal economic zones in the east and south,indicating that the development of the digital economy is not stable;The space is positively correlated;from the perspective of the four development types classified in this thesis,the digital economy development level has a significantly greater probability of transitioning to the type of adjacent areas than to the type of non-adjacent areas.At the same time,the development level of the digital economy has an upward trend and has not reached a steady state.(4)On the whole,there is no σconvergence in the development level of the digital economy,but absolute β convergence.In terms of sub-regions,there are absolute β-convergence in the eastern coastal,southern coastal,middle reaches of the Yangtze River,and the Great Northwest,while there is no absolute β-convergence in the rest of the regions.It can be considered that the development level of the digital economy in the eight major economic zones is difficult to eliminate for the time being;after considering the influencing factors of industrial structure,opening to the outside world,optical cable density,and investment in science and education,there is a conditional β convergence in the Northeast Economic Zone of my country.In view of the above conclusions,we propose measures that can be taken to promote the high-quality development of my country’s digital economy.