The Impact Of Digital Finance On Urban Total Factor Productivit

Digital finance is a product of the integration of information technology and financial business,which is both a new form of finance and a further advancement in technology.To fundamentally improve total factor productivity and achieve the major strategic goal of high-quality economic development,digital finance is essential.Therefore,can the development of digital finance serve as a powerful tool to enhance total factor productivity? If the answer is affirmative,what is its mechanism of action,and does it have any spatial spillover effects? This article selected 285 prefecture-level cities in China from 2011 to 2019 to study the impact of digital finance on urban total factor productivity.Firstly,the current situation of digital finance was analyzed based on the digital finance development index released by the Digital Inclusive Finance Center of Peking University.Secondly,the input-output model was used in conjunction with the DEA method to measure urban total factor productivity,and the current situation of urban total factor productivity was analyzed.Finally,through the empirical research of panel data models,panel data quantile models,moderating effects models,threshold effects models,and spatial Durbin model,the impact of digital finance on urban total factor productivity,the threshold effect,and spatial spillover effects were studied.Empirical results:(1)The development of digital finance significantly promotes the improvement of urban total factor productivity.After using instrumental variables to solve the endogeneity problem,the conclusion that digital finance can significantly improve urban total factor productivity still holds.This conclusion is robust,and even after replacing the proxy variable for digital finance,it still holds.(2)Per capita income and industrial structure upgrading are important ways for digital finance to affect total factor productivity.Digital finance has a significant positive effect on total factor productivity by increasing per capita income.As the value of the industrial structure upgrading index gradually increases,the regulatory role played by industrial structure upgrading in the process of digital finance affecting total factor productivity becomes smaller.The promoting effect of technology talent on digital finance’s promotion of total factor productivity increases with an increase in the number of people.(3)The impact of digital finance on urban total factor productivity has significant spatial spillover effects.The development of local digital finance has a significant positive promoting effect on local total factor productivity.The development of local digital finance has a significant negative inhibiting effect on the total factor productivity of adjacent cities and cities with similar levels of economic development.Policy recommendations:(1)Develop digital finance and its related industries.Formulate a development plan for digital industries;establish and improve the digital finance-related industrial system;improve the construction of digital infrastructure;and increase financial support for digital finance and its related industries.(2)Develop digital finance strategies tailored to each city’s specific development situation.Adhere to the people-centered approach,prioritize technology,vigorously develop digital industrialization,and industrial digitization.(3)Make full use of the spatial spillover effects of digital finance,pay attention to the development differences among different cities,and coordinate urban development.Through talent exchange visits,product and factor market misalignment development,and other means,realize cross-regional division of labor and cooperation.