Research On The Impact Of Digital Development On The Geographical Distribution Of Enterprises In Chinese Cities

Under the new background of the continuous research and application of digital technology and its deep integration with the real economy,digital development has provided a key driving force for the high-quality and sustainable development of China’s economy in the new era,and increasingly become a key force for reshaping the pattern of economic competition.At present,China is in a period of a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation.The improvement of digital development level provides a rare opportunity for the transformation and upgrading of Chinese enterprises and even the economy.In the complex domestic and international environment,in order to enhance the vitality of economic development,both the national level and local governments at all levels have taken measures to attract enterprises,such as reducing land costs,reducing taxes and fees,improving the business environment and so on.These measures have played a good role in attracting investment at a certain stage,but the effect is gradually weakening.Strengthening the construction of digital infrastructure and improving the level of digital development is conducive to continuously enhancing the vitality of economic development,attracting investment and concentration of enterprises,and is of great significance to the optimization of local industries and high-quality economic development.Based on the panel data of 283 cities in China from 2006 to 2019 and the AQC enterprise information database,this thesis constructs and measures the indicators of digital development and geographic distribution of enterprises,analyzes and summarizes the characteristics of spatial and temporal divergence of digital development and geographic distribution of enterprises in cities,and on the basis of systematical analysis of the interaction mechanism of digital development and geographical distribution of enterprises,tests the direct effect and action mechanism of the two factors by using the measurement tools such as two-way fixed effect model,instrumental variables,mediating effect model and moderating effect model,and further tests the threshold conditions of digital development affecting the geographical distribution of enterprises by introducing threshold effect model,and gives corresponding policy enlightenment according to the empirical analysis conclusion.It is found that digital development can attract the agglomeration of enterprises and significantly change the geographical distribution of urban enterprises.The specific findings are as follows.(1)The level of digital development in Chinese cities achieved a relatively rapid improvement from 2006 to 2019,and the digital level in general showed a trend of extending to the inland hinterland,the distribution of enterprises in general showed a gradual reduction of regional distribution differences.(2)There is a positive correlation between digital development and the geographic distribution of enterprises in 283 cities in China,and the improvement of digital development level can attract enterprises to cluster and significantly change the geographic distribution of enterprises,and this result still holds after a series of robustness tests and endogeneity tests.(3)The impact of digital development on the geographic distribution of enterprises varies significantly by location conditions,city size and industry,and the impact of digital development on the geographic distribution of enterprises in the east and central regions,large and medium-sized cities,and tertiary industries is significantly positive.(4)There is a partial mediating effect of digital development on the geographic distribution of enterprises,and digital development can indirectly change the geographic distribution of enterprises by improving the convenience of financing and promoting consumption upgrading to attract enterprises to cluster.(5)The moderating effect test shows that the level of urban innovation and transportation convenience can strengthen the influence effect of digital development,attracting enterprise agglomeration and changing the geographic distribution of enterprises.(6)The threshold effect test shows that the impact of digital development on the geographical distribution of enterprises has a significant threshold effect,and the level of urban physical investment and the convenience of transportation are the threshold conditions for digital development to influence the geographical distribution of enterprises.Finally,the policy recommendations are as follows.First,the government should vigorously support digital development,attach importance to the research and development and application of digital technology,and introduce targeted industrial policies,fiscal and tax policies to encourage scientific research institutions and enterprises to carry out digital innovation and transformation.Second,each place should implement differentiated digital development policies,promote digital development according to local conditions,and avoid "one size fits all" in the formulation and implementation of relevant policies.Third,financing and consumption are important to build an intermediate bridge between the influence of digital development on the geographical distribution of enterprises,promote the upgrading of consumption and improve the financing convenience.Fourth,improve the level of urban innovation and transportation convenience,so as to strengthen the influence of digital development on the geographical distribution of enterprises.