| This paper is a theoretical and empirical study of the impact of the digital economy on green total factor productivity(GTFP)in the Yangtze River Economic Belt.The root cause of the current environmental pollution and structural problems lies in the distortion of resource allocation caused by the early crude development,and improving GTFP is not only a power source to solve the early problems and achieve green development,but also an important criterion to evaluate the highquality economic development.In the 19 th and 20 th Party Congresses and the 14 th Five-Year Plan,the importance of the digital economy to promote high-quality development has been emphasized,and the development of digital economy has been elevated to a national strategy.As digital technology continues to penetrate all areas of society,cities will certainly impact GTFP by establishing data platforms,sharing resources,and innovating environmental supervision.With more than 40% of the country’s population and GDP,the Yangtze River Economic Belt has become a major national strategic development area and a pioneering demonstration belt for ecological civilization construction,and its GTFP growth is deeply related to the great ecological protection of the Yangtze River and national ecological security.Therefore,it is of great theoretical value and practical significance to comprehensively study the impact of the digital economy on GTFP in the Yangtze River Economic Belt.First,this paper comprehensively compares the measurement studies of digital economy and GTFP,theoretical studies and empirical studies on the impact of digital economy on GTFP.Digital economy measurement includes indexing method,national economic accounting method,value-added method,satellite account method,etc.,and GTFP measurement includes parametric method and non-parametric method.Theoretical research is mainly based on network effect theory,long tail theory,scale economy theory,and scope economy theory to explain the impact of the digital economy on micro producers and consumers;Based on traditional economic growth theory and green economic growth theory,this paper summarizes the mechanism of digital economy and GTFP theoretical transformation,and establishes the relationship between the two;Based on industrial structure theory,technological innovation theory,and new economic geography theory,this paper further analyze the impact mechanism and spatial impact of digital economy on GTFP.The empirical study includes the relationship,mechanism and spatial impact of the digital economy on GTFP by domestic and foreign scholars.Secondly,on this basis,this paper clearly defines the concept of digital economy and GTFP,builds a theoretical analysis framework of digital economy affecting GTFP from three aspects of influence relationship,impact mechanism and spatial influence,and takes Yangtze River Economic Belt as an example to put forward relevant research hypotheses.In addition to defining the connotation of digital economy,we also analyze its basic characteristics,statistical scope,and the connection and difference between digital economy and information economy/knowledge economy/network economy/new economy;we define the concept of GTFP from the evolution of productivity;we define the concept of GTFP from “micro-meso-macro” perspective.From the perspective of industrial restructuring and green technology innovation,we analyze the impact mechanism of the former on the latter;from the perspective of spatial agglomeration phenomenon and spatial spillover effect,we analyze the spatial influence of the former on the latter.Then,based on the statistical scope of digital economy and data availability,this paper prudently constructs the digital economy index system of Yangtze River Economic Belt and estimates the digital economy index of 108 cities in Yangtze River Economic Belt from 2011 to 2020 using entropyweighted TOPSIS method;in addition,it adopts Epsilon-Based Measure and Global Malmquist-Luenberger(EBM-GML)index was used to calculate the corresponding GTFP,and the GTFP was decomposed into green technical change(GTC)and green efficiency change(GEC).Finally,based on the measured data results,the spatial and temporal evolution characteristics of the digital economy and GTFP and its decomposition terms in the cities of Yangtze River Economic Belt are analyzed by descriptive statistics;the relationship between the digital economy and GTFP is analyzed empirically using panel regression model and panel threshold model;and the influence of the digital economy on GTFP in Yangtze River Economic Belt is tested empirically from the perspective of industrial restructuring and green technological innovation;the spatial autocorrelation test and the spatial Durbin model are used to empirically test the spatial impact of the digital economy on GTFP in the Yangtze River Economic Belt.In addition,according to the differences in economic development levels,the development stages are temporally divided into the 12 th and13th Five-Year Plan stages,and the development regions are spatially divided into the upstream,midstream and downstream,or the central city cluster and peripheral cities.The spatial and temporal heterogeneity is always examined in the study of impact relationships,impact mechanisms and spatial impacts.The main findings of this paper are as follows.First,the estimation results and analysis of the digital economy and GTFP of the Yangtze River Economic Belt show that the imbalance and disharmony cannot be ignored.Specifically,firstly,from 2011 to 2020,the digital economy of the Yangtze River Economic Belt has improved over time,while the GTFP has shown fluctuating trends and obvious phase characteristics,with a pattern of “two decreases and two increases”.Secondly,from the decomposition results of GTFP,the GTFP and GTC of Yangtze River Economic Belt as a whole show a fluctuating upward trend during the sample period,and the direction of change of both is roughly the same;while the GEC shows a fluctuating downward trend,especially in the downstream.Finally,from the regional spatial pattern,the digital economy and GTFP in the Yangtze River Economic Belt gradually show the spatial characteristics of “high in the east and low in the west” and the typical “center-periphery” pattern.Second,the digital economy in the Yangtze River Economic Belt can significantly boost GTFP growth,and there are non-linear characteristics of increasing marginal effects,and heterogeneity among different development stages and regions.Specifically,firstly,the digital economy significantly boosts GTFP and GTC in the Yangtze River Economic Belt,but the effect on GEC is not significant.Second,the single threshold test shows that the impact of digital economy on GTFP in the Yangtze River Economic Belt shows a positive and increasing marginal effect with the development of digital economy in a non-linear relationship.When human capital is used as the threshold variable,the positive and increasing marginal effect of digital economy still exists;however,when foreign openness is used as the threshold variable,excessive FDI may cause the “pollution sanctuary” effect,thus inhibiting the increase of GTFP.The two-threshold test shows that the impact of digital economy on GTFP shows an “inverted U-shaped” trend with the increase of environmental regulation,technology expenditure and government size,while the impact of digital economy on GTFP shows a “U-shaped” trend with the development of economic level.The trend of change is “U-shaped” as the economy develops.Finally,as the economy enters the 13 th Five-Year Plan stage,the positive effect of the digital economy on GTFP and GTC is increasing,while the positive effect on GEC is weakening or even turning into a suppressing effect.Compared with upstream,midstream and peripheral cities,the positive effects of digital economy on GTFP,GTC and GEC are stronger in downstream and central city clusters.Third,the digital economy in the Yangtze River Economic Belt can drive GTFP growth by promoting industrial structure upgrading and green technology innovation,but there is heterogeneity among different development stages,different development regions,and different mediating variables.Specifically,first,in terms of different measures of industrial restructuring,the impact of the digital economy in the Yangtze River Economic Belt on GTFP growth can be transmitted only through the industrial structure upgrading,but not through the industrial structure rationalization.Second,in terms of different development stages,the mediating effect of industrial structure upgrading and green technology innovation has not been verified when the economy is in the 12 th Five-Year Plan period.Only when the economy entered the 13 th FiveYear Plan period,the mediating variables of industrial structure upgrading and green technology innovation as part of the digital economy’s contribution to GTFP growth were verified.In terms of different development regions,the mediating effects of industrial structure upgrading and green technology innovation are more prominent in the downstream and central city clusters than in the upstream,midstream and peripheral cities of the Yangtze River Economic Belt.In addition,in terms of contribution decomposition and synergistic effect of the mechanism of action,the empirical evidence finds that the relative contribution shares of industrial structure upgrading and green technology innovation are 11.76% and 40.00%,respectively,in the total effect of digital economy influencing GTFP,so the green technology innovation impact mechanism is more important.Finally,the digital economy of the Yangtze River Economic Belt can indirectly promote GTFP growth through the synergistic effects of industrial structure rationalization,industrial structure upgrading and green technology innovation,respectively,and green technology innovation plays a positive moderating role in the effects of industrial structure rationalization and industrial structure upgrading on GTFP.Fourth,the digital economy of the Yangtze River Economic Belt has a significant spatial impact on GTFP,but with heterogeneity in terms of different GTFP decomposition parts,different development stages and different development regions.Specifically: the test of spatial autocorrelation shows that there is a significant positive spatial correlation between the digital economy and GTFP in the Yangtze River Economic Belt,with an overall feature of high aggregation in the downstream and low aggregation in the upstream and midstream.The results of further empirical tests using the spatial Durbin model show that the digital economy of the Yangtze River Economic Belt has a positive spatial spillover effect on GTFP,and the positive spatial spillover effect is further enhanced as the economy enters the 13 th Five-Year Plan stage.For different development regions,the effect is strongest in the downstream,followed by the midstream,but not significantly in the upstream;meanwhile,the positive spatial spillover effect is greater in the central city cluster than in the peripheral cities.After decomposing GTFP further,we find that the Yangtze River Economic Belt digital economy has a significant positive spillover effect on GTC and a negative spillover effect on GEC,and both spatial spillover effects are further expanded as the economy moves from the 12 th Five-Year Plan to the 13 th Five-Year Plan.These two spatial spillover effects have been further expanded as the economy moves from the 12 th to the 13 th Five-Year Plan.In terms of different development regions,the positive spatial spillover effect of the Yangtze River Economic Belt digital economy on GTC is consistent with that on GTFP,which is strongest in the downstream,followed by the midstream,but not significant in the upstream region;meanwhile,this spatial spillover effect is greater in the central city cluster than in the peripheral cities.In contrast,the spatial spillover effect of the digital economy on GEC in the Yangtze River Economic Belt is strongest in the downstream,followed by the upstream,and turns significantly positive in the X midstream;meanwhile,this spatial spillover effect is significantly positive in the central city clusters,but significantly negative in the peripheral city clusters.The policy implications of this study are mainly the following: First,continue to increase the construction of the digital economy in the Yangtze River Economic Belt.Continuously increase investment in new infrastructure areas in each region,moderately adjust foreign direct investment,degree of environmental regulation and government size,develop forward-looking digital economy planning strategies,and give full play to the role of policy tools.Second,we should spawn new information industry models to maximize GTC and improve green efficiency.Enterprises should strengthen knowledge and technology spillover and actively realize technology sharing.The government should reasonably allocate digital resources,appropriately improve preferential policies for digital enterprises,and support sustainable development of small and micro enterprises;break down regional barriers in the flow of technology and information,actively encourage cross-provincial investment,and promote economic integration in the Yangtze River Economic Belt.Third,accelerate the industrial restructuring of the Yangtze River Economic Belt.We should not only continue to promote the industrial structure upgrading in the Yangtze River Economic Belt,but also combine the industrial structure rationalization and green technology innovation to collaboratively promote the green development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt;the downstream of the Yangtze River Economic Belt should strengthen the cooperation with the upstream and midstream city groups through industrial cooperation and industrial transfer,and establish an inter-regional coordination mechanism.Fourth,enhance the capacity of independent innovation.Continuously increase the scientific research of digital core technology,comprehensively promote the integration of science and technology and culture,and create new business models;actively build a platform for cooperation and exchange between the government,enterprises,universities and research institutes;continue to strengthen the training and exchange of talents,accelerate the construction of digital technology disciplines,and vigorously train scientific and technological innovation talents in interdisciplinary and frontier fields.Fifth,optimize the regional development pattern and narrow the divide between regions.Accelerate the promotion of the inclination and diffusion of the relatively advantageous digital resources in the downstream to the upstream and midstream,and actively exert the network radiation effect of large cities and central cities on peripheral cities to realize the integrated development of digital economy;establish a joint ecological and environmental management system between different urban clusters to promote the integrated green development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt;adhere to the principle of diversification and develop the digital economy according to local conditions. |
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