The Impact Of Digital Economy On Carbon Emission Efficiency In China

The report of the 20 th Party Congress proposed to "actively and steadily promote carbon neutrality.Achieving carbon neutrality is an extensive and profound economic and social systemic change".To reach the goal of carbon neutrality,China’s high carbon regions,high energy consumption,high pollution,and high emission industries need to make a low carbon transformation,and the traditional high carbon path-dependent production and lifestyle also needs to be adjusted and optimized,while improving carbon emission efficiency has become one of the important paths to stabilize economic growth and reach the carbon peak during the current period of significant structural changes.The digital economy,with its high technology,low energy consumption,a measurable and wide range of penetration and integration capabilities,provides a feasible way to improve carbon efficiency,and how to better utilize the digital economy to improve carbon efficiency and help achieve carbon neutrality has become a key issue.This thesis focuses on the effects and mechanisms of the development of China’s digital economy on carbon emission efficiency and summarizes the characteristics of the digital economy and its three major mechanisms for improving carbon emission efficiency based on relevant theories,practical exploration,and China’s institutional advantages: the resource allocation mechanism in which the digital economy affects the efficiency of labor and capital allocation and thus contributes to carbon emission efficiency,the spatial competition mechanism that considers the dynamics of multiple competing games of local governments under the compatibility of central and local incentives,and the spatial competition mechanism that considers the dynamic The paper then empirically analyzes the effect of digital economy development on carbon emission efficiency in China and tests the above three mechanisms.The main findings of this paper are as follows:First,the level of development of China’s digital economy and carbon emission efficiency are measured and analyzed.Based on an objective screening and generalization of China’s digital economy development indicators based on the rooting theory approach,the level of digital economy development in 30 Chinese provinces and cities from 2011 to 2020 was measured.The results show that,in general,China and its provinces and cities have developed rapidly in the past 10 years,but the spatial imbalance of digital economy development is prominent,and the "regional digital divide" exists significantly;China’s carbon emission efficiency as a whole is improving,but the gap between provinces and regions is obvious,and the provinces and cities with high carbon emission efficiency are mostly concentrated in the In addition,the carbon emission efficiency of China as a whole has been improving,but the gap between provinces and regions is obvious.Second,the impact effect of China’s digital economy development on carbon emission efficiency and resource allocation mechanism is examined.The development of China’s digital economy has a positive effect on the national carbon emission efficiency,and after the instrumental variables approach to exclude possible endogeneity problems and a series of robustness tests,the results that the digital economy enhances carbon emission efficiency are robust;at the same time,the impact of the digital economy on carbon emission efficiency is regionally heterogeneous,and the development of the digital economy in eastern and western China can significantly enhance carbon The digital economy can significantly improve carbon emission efficiency in the eastern and western regions of China,but not in the central and northeastern regions,while the digital economy significantly improves carbon emission efficiency in the north-south spatial perspective,but the effect is stronger in the northern region.The regional comparison analysis finds that only the eastern and western regions can improve carbon emission efficiency by optimizing capital allocation efficiency.Third,the spatial competition mechanism of digital economy development’s impact on China’s carbon emission efficiency is examined.The results show that digital economy development has a significant spatial spillover effect,and the development of digital economy in one place can promote the development of digital economy in neighboring regions,and the impact of digital economy development on carbon emission efficiency also has a significant positive spillover effect,and the development of local digital economy can improve the carbon emission efficiency of both local and neighboring regions,thus the overall national formation of digital economy-driven carbon emission efficiency improvement The competitive explanation based on resource allocation shows that the current intra-regional competition around digital economy development still exists as a "climbing" phenomenon,and the pursuit of economic and environmental dividends brought by digital economy development often ignores the input of other factors,thus to a greater extent The development of digital economy has only produced significant carbon emission efficiency results for the region,but has not formed an effective synergistic cooperation system for neighboring regions for the time being.Fourth,the multiple reinforcing mechanisms of the impact of China’s digital economy development on carbon emission efficiency are examined based on the dynamic role of science and technology innovation and institutional innovation.The results show that science and technology innovation can have a significant reinforcing effect on the digital economy to enhance carbon emission efficiency,and digital economy policies can also play a reinforcing role,but the reinforcing effect of different environmental policy instruments varies,only market incentive-based environmental regulations can achieve the reinforcing effect of promoting the digital economy to enhance carbon emission efficiency,while command-based and public participation-based environmental regulations fail to play a reinforcing role.In addition,the robustness of the results is tested by dynamic threshold regression.Fifth,based on the findings of relevant studies and the summary of relevant policies,we summarize the favorable factors and constraining shortcomings of China’s digital economy that affect carbon emission efficiency enhancement and propose countermeasures to promote carbon emission efficiency enhancement sustainably and stably in four aspects: releasing the green endowment of the digital economy,giving full play to the spatial advantages of the digital economy,strengthening the innovation effectiveness of the digital economy,and deepening the institutional change of the digital economy.The innovation points of this thesis are mainly reflected in the following three aspects: First,the innovation in the research method.The bottom-up evaluation index system of China’s digital economy development level is constructed based on the theoretical analysis method,and the influence of subjective factors on the selection and evaluation of the indexes is excluded as far as possible to ensure the scientific and objective measurement of the digital economy development level.The second is the innovation in the analysis of theoretical mechanisms.The theoretical framework of the impact of digital economy development on carbon emission efficiency is constructed,and the means of the impact of digital economy development on carbon emission efficiency is further demonstrated from both theoretical and empirical perspectives,based on three mechanisms: resource allocation,spatial competition,and multiple reinforcement.Third,the innovation in policy construction.Based on the theoretical analysis and the conclusions of the empirical test,the path selection and implementation direction for the digital economy development to enhance carbon emission efficiency are proposed in four aspects,namely,the green endowment of the digital economy,the coordinated development of the regional pattern,the intrinsic driving force of the innovation drive and the strengthening means of the institutional guarantee,respectively,to ensure that the digital economy development can sustainably,effectively and stably This will ensure that the digital economy can play a role in carbon reduction and lowering carbon emissions,achieve a continuous increase in carbon emission efficiency,and promote the green and high-quality development of all regions.