Research On The Impact Of Digital Economy On The Integration Of Urban And Rural Development In The Yangtze River Economic Belt

A key issue in promoting China’s high-quality economic development and achieving common prosperity is the integration of urban and rural development that is one of the major issues facing the building of a strong socialist modernizing country and the path of Chinese style modernization and development.In the report of the 20^thParty Congress,there is a clear proposal to adhere to the prioritisation of agricultural and rural development,with the aim of adhering to integrated urban and rural development,and fostering the flow of elements between urban and rural areas.In 2019,the State Council published the Opinions on the Establishing of a Sound Institutional Mechanism and Policy System for Integrated Development of Urban and Rural Areas（hereinafter referred to as the Opinions）—one that would allow new areas to be developed,and inte intervening three years,based on the Opinions’guidance and the process of integrated urban and rural development in the present year,the National Development and Reform Based on the Opinions’direction and the process of urban-rural integration development in the current year,the National Development and Reform Commission has been updating and releasing the Key Tasks of New Urbanization Construction and Urban-Rural Integration Development for the respective year,continuously improving the construction of institutional mechanisms for urban-rural integration development in the new era and giving new requirements of the times to urban-rural integration development.The unprecedented expansion of the digital economy is one of the most salient features of today’s social development.According to the"China Internet Development Report"released by the World Internet Conference 2021,According to the"China Internet Development Report"released by the World Internet Conference2021,China’s digital economy is almost 40 trillion yuan in scale,contributing almost40%to the GDP,which is the main driver of China’s economic development and a significant opportunity to solve the problem of the development of urban-rural integration.Thus,seizing the opportunity for digital economy development,enhancing the level of urban-rural wisdom,and closing the multidimensional urban-rural gap are important entry points for the development of urban-rural integration.Most existing studies,however,start from a single dimension,such as urban-rural income and urban-rural consumption,in order to investigate the impact of the digital economy on the urban-rural gap,and research on multi-dimensional urban-rural integration needs to be further developed.The research in this article follows the line of research from theoretical analysis to empirical testing.First,on the basis of existing domestic and foreign related research and theory,the conceptual connotation of digital economy and urban-rural integration is clarified,and the inner mechanism of digital economy on urban-rural integration development is analyzed from elemental system,structural system,and environmental system using the research method of general system theory;second,on the basis of data from nine provinces and two municipalities directly under the Central Government of Yangtze River Economic Zone from 2011 to 2021,we use the entropy power method to analyse the impact of digital economy on the development of urban-rural integration from Second,based on data from nine provinces and two municipalities directly under the central government of the Yangtze River Economic Zone from 2011 to 2021,the digital economy development index（ED）of the Yangtze River Economic Zone was derived from three dimensions of the infrastructure of the digital economy,digital economy industry development and the cultural environment of the digital economy and analysed the current state of digital economy development in the Yangtze River Economic Zone.Lastly,using the development level index（ED）of the digital economy as the basic explanatory variable and the development index（UR）of urban-rural integration as the explanatory variable,we empirically test the importance of the digital economy affecting the development of urban-rural integration based on the fixed effects panel model,and the impact of digital economy on urban-rural integration development in different dimensions and the threshold effect of digital economy affecting urban-rural integration are further analyzed.The findings of this paper are as follows:first,from a global perspective,the development of the digital economy can promote the development of urban-rural integration;secondly,of the three dimensions of digital economy,the development environment of digital economy has the greatest influence on the development of urban-rural integration,the development carrier is the second,and the development of related industries is the second;thirdly,there is regional heterogeneity in the influence of the digital economy on the development of urban-rural integration in Yangtze River Economic Zone,and the faster the digital economy develops,the greater the urban-rural economic integration;fourthly,by analysing the influence of the strength of two threshold parameters,upgrading industrial structure and the urban-rural residents’income gap,on the strength and direction of digital economy advocacy on the development of urban-rural integration,a single threshold effect is observed,and in the initial stage of upgrading industrial structures,in areas with smaller urban-rural residents’income gaps,digital economy is more strongly promoted on the development of urban-rural integration.Based on the above conclusions,this paper proposes to develop the regional advantages and build the digital economy development pattern of the Yangtze River economic belt.To improve the ratio of input to output of factors of production in urban and rural areas of Yangtze River economic belt by using data factors.To explore the digital application scenarios of urban and rural areas in the multi-type Yangtze River economic belt using digital technology.Innovate digital governance and intelligently transform the urban and rural governance of Yangtze River economic belt.Policy suggestions such as popularizing digital knowledge and cultivating the all-age learning style of urban and rural residents in the Yangtze Economic Belt.