| With the rise of the new round of industrial revolution,the digital economy is gradually accelerating to empower the manufacturing industry to achieve digital transformation.At the same time,after experiencing the impact of the new crown epidemic,countries around the world have started to slow down their economic growth and are in urgent need of new technologies and new economic growth points to revitalise their markets and achieve sustainable,high-quality economic development.In addition,the traditional manufacturing industry is bound to suffer a huge impact under the influence of the new round of industrial revolution due to many reasons such as the decline in production efficiency of low-end products,the lack of high-end products,the waste of resources and the damage to the environment.This has made the development of a digital economy and the realisation of digitalisation and intelligence a strategic goal for countries around the world.China is actively seizing the new round of development opportunities by implementing Made in China 2025 to promote the digital upgrading of the manufacturing industry and implementing a series of national strategies and industrial policies that are conducive to achieving high-quality development of the Chinese economy.However,due to the constraints of human capital,capital investment,technology level and other factors,the overall level of digital transformation of China’s manufacturing industry is low and the development between regions is seriously unbalanced,which is manifested in the gradually increasing gap in production efficiency and innovation capacity between regions,with the backward regions being in a low-level development depression for a long time,while the ecological problems in developed regions are frequent due to the excessive gathering of resources.How to scientifically and effectively promote the digital transformation of the manufacturing industry has become the focus of China’s development strategy.A comprehensive analysis of the current relevant cutting-edge research reveals that there is still much room for expansion in two areas: firstly,there is still no complete and objective standard that can reflect the digital transformation of the manufacturing industry,and there is also a lack of objective evaluation studies at the province-wide level in China;secondly,there is still a lack of empirical studies on how the digital transformation of the manufacturing industry contributes to the promotion of high-quality economic development.Based on this,this study collected data on indicators related to the digital transformation of the manufacturing industry in 30 Chinese provinces from 2011 to 2020 to comprehensively evaluate the changing trends of the digital transformation of the manufacturing industry in each region,and further explore the impact mechanism of digital transformation on the high-quality development of the regional economy.The study finds that China’s manufacturing digital transformation has made some progress during the period 2010-2020,but there are significant regional differences in development,the extent of which tends to increase during the study period.Also,manufacturing digital transformation helps to promote high-quality economic development,and this finding is confirmed after endogeneity treatment(2SLS)and the robustness tests of shortening the time window and removing the municipality directly under the central government.In addition,the intermediary effect results indicate that digital transformation in manufacturing also helps to improve human capital and industrial structure,thus promoting the actual sustainable development of China’s economy.Lastly,the results of regional heterogeneity show that the impact of digital transformation in manufacturing on high-quality economic development is more pronounced in the central region,followed by the western region and relatively weaker in the eastern region.Based on the above research findings,this paper puts forward the following policy recommendations on how to scientifically and effectively promote the digital transformation of the manufacturing industry: firstly,to narrow the digital divide between the development of the central and western regions and the eastern regions,so that the digital transformation of the manufacturing industry in the central and western regions and the eastern regions can develop in a coordinated manner;secondly,to promote the deep integration of digital technology and the manufacturing industry,and to give full play to the role of the digital transformation of the manufacturing industry in boosting high-quality economic development;Third,increase investment in human capital and give full play to the transmission mechanism of human capital to the digital transformation of manufacturing;fourth,optimize the industrial structure and give full play to the transmission mechanism of the industrial structure to the digital transformation of manufacturing;fifth,formulate differentiated policies for the digital transformation of manufacturing to maximize the positive effect of the digital transformation of manufacturing. |
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