The Impact Of Digital Economy On Residents’ Consumption Structure

In recent years,China has entered a critical period of economic restructuring.Facing the constraints of trade protectionism and unilateralism,the comparative advantage of investment and export in promoting economic growth has weakened,and the fundamental role of consumption in China’s steady economic growth has become increasingly prominent.However,due to the internal structural imbalance of consumption in China,in the case of low consumption structure and slow upgrading speed,the lower demand level slows down the transformation and upgrading of industrial structure,which is not conducive to the transformation of economic development from the pursuit of speed to the pursuit of quality.Therefore,the urgency and importance of promoting the upgrading of consumption structure are further highlighted.At the same time,digital technology has penetrated deeply into the consumption field in China.Digitalization breaks the space limit of information flow transmission,and is expected to support the expansion of consumption boundary,change of consumption structure,innovation of consumption concept,etc.The digital economy may become a powerful support for the optimization of the main consumption structure.The consumption driven effect of the digital economy cannot be separated from the offline support of transport infrastructure,the external protection of the legal system environment,and the consumption preference choice of demographic characteristics.Based on this,this study puts the digital economy into the same theoretical framework as the consumption structure of residents by overlaying the transportation infrastructure,population age structure and legal system environment,depicts and verifies the mechanism of the above factors affecting the consumption structure of residents,and examines the regulatory role of the transportation infrastructure,population age structure and legal system environment between the digital economy and the consumption structure of residents,It is expected to provide effective ideas and feasible suggestions for the digital economy to help optimize the consumption structure and further expand domestic demand.At first,this paper clearly defines the connotation of the research object,and through literature review,policy analysis,and preliminary statistical analysis,it carefully sorts out the marginal progress of existing research,and establishes a scientific and comprehensive theoretical framework on this basis.Secondly,construct a mathematical model and use a fixed effects model to correct the endogeneity issues caused by omitted variable bias and simultaneous correlation between explanatory variables and random disturbances in the model setting.Thirdly,the robustness of the research conclusion is verified from multiple perspectives by using proxy variables,replacing the estimation model,correcting the bias of missing variables,and dealing with endogenous problems.Next,through sample heterogeneity analysis,consider the heterogeneity of the effects of the digital economy on residents’ consumption structure under different scenario conditions.Finally,this paper applies intermediary test,regulated intermediary test,and segmented test to explore the possible action path of digital economy,transport infrastructure,legal system environment,and population age structure affecting residents’ consumption structure.The main conclusions of this paper are as follows: First,the deepening of the digital economy helps to upgrade the consumption structure of residents.The robustness tests such as proxy variables and replacement estimation models support the above conclusions,which are still valid after dealing with endogenous problems;Optimizing industrial structure,reducing uncertainty,and improving payment convenience are the three intermediary channels through which the digital economy drives the upgrading of residents’ consumption structure;Compared to the central and western regions,the deepening of the digital economy in the eastern region has a more significant effect on upgrading residents’ consumption structure.Second,the improvement of transport infrastructure has significantly supported the increase in the proportion of residents’ survival consumption.transport infrastructure has a positive moderating effect on the direct relationship between the digital economy and residents’ consumption structure.robustness tests such as surrogate variables,replacement estimation models,and considering the lag effect all support the above conclusions.The above conclusions are still valid after the endogenous problem is treated with instrumental variables from multiple perspectives;The transport infrastructure also has a positive moderating effect on the transmission mechanism of the digital economy affecting the residents’ consumption structure,that is,the higher the level of transport infrastructure,the stronger the mesomeric effect of the three intermediary channels of industrial structure,uncertainty,and convenient payment on the relationship between the digital economy and the residents’ consumption structure.Third,the improvement of the legal environment has a significant positive effect on the upgrading of the residents’ consumption structure,and the legal system environment has a positive moderating effect on the relationship between the digital economy and the residents’ consumption structure.The above conclusions are supported by robustness tests such as correcting the errors of missing variables,replacing the estimation model,and considering the lag effect.The above conclusions are still valid after the treatment of endogenous problems;The upgrading of industrial structure is an important intermediary channel for the legal system environment to assist residents in upgrading their consumption structure.Fourthly,the improvement of children’s dependency ratio and elderly dependency ratio inhibits the optimization of consumption structure.The deepening of the digital economy has significantly promoted the upgrading of the consumption structure,and can alleviate the inhibitory effect of the elderly dependency ratio on the adjustment and optimization of the consumption structure.Multi perspective robustness tests such as proxy variables,correction of errors in missing variables,and replacement of estimation models all support the above conclusions.The above conclusions are still valid after selecting tool variables to deal with endogenous problems;The increase in children’s dependency ratio enhances residents’ marginal consumption preferences in food,housing,daily necessities,and other aspects;The increase in elderly dependency ratio strengthens residents’ marginal consumption preferences for food,clothing,daily necessities,and services,and weakens their preferences for low transportation,communication,and entertainment marginal consumption;The savings rate and labor productivity are two intermediary channels through which the age structure of the population changes the consumption structure of residents.Based on the research conclusions,the following four suggestions are put forward: First,we can deeply implement the digital economy strategy and encourage platform enterprises to carry out Digital transformation in core business links such as R&D design,operation management,production processing,logistics after-sales,etc.Second,actively promote the construction of transport infrastructure in various regions,provide offline hardware foundation for the popularization of digital economy development achievements,build a new digital business model where online services and offline support complement each other,help“information flow access” with “logistics access”,and drive the upgrading of residents’ consumption structure.Thirdly,the government should improve the legal environment system,increase the degree of consumer protection,and supplement it with corresponding behavior promotion mechanisms to maintain synchronized consumer protection enforcement with the consumer market,providing good institutional guarantees for residents’ consumption.Fourthly,actively promote the three-child policy,assist in optimizing the age structure of the future population,establish and improve social pension security mechanisms,and improve medical services.