Research On The Impact Of Digital Development On Green Economy Efficiency In Chinese Cities

Against the backdrop of sustainable economic and social development being increasingly constrained by resource depletion and environmental degradation,the development of green economy has gradually become a consensus among countries to promote sustainable regional development.Since entering the new era,China’s economy has grown rapidly and its economic strength has increased significantly.However,the resource and environmental problems caused by the growth mode of high pollution and high energy consumption have been increasingly aggravated.Promoting green and low-carbon economic and social development is a key link to achieve high-quality development,according to the report of the Party’s 20 th National Congress.Along with the iterative updates of science and technology such as big data,cloud computing and artificial intelligence,our social and economic development has gradually entered a new era of digital economy.Digital development with information technology as its essence has taken full advantage of the big data era to reduce transaction costs and improve economic efficiency.With the new characteristics of diversity,sharing and innovation,digitalization has increasingly become the new driving force of high-quality economic development in our country.In this context,it is important to explore the impact of digital development on the efficiency of the green economy,in order to promote digital development and facilitate the green transformation of the economy.Based on the relevant theories of input-output,regional sustainable development,man-land coordination and digital development,the paper constructs an evaluation index system for digital development of prefecture-level cities,and evaluates the green economy efficiency of249 prefecture-level cities in China based on the super-efficiency SBM model of non-expected output.Using kernel density analysis,exploratory spatial data analysis,Gini coefficient,coefficient of variation and other methods,the spatial and temporal evolution characteristics of digital development index and green economy efficiency were analyzed.The two-way fixed effect model is used to explore the impact of digital development on green economic efficiency.The spatial spillover effect of digital development on green economic efficiency is analyzed by building a spatial econometric model,and the influence mechanism and action path of digital development on green economic efficiency is explored by combining with the intermediary effect model.Based on the empirical analysis results,this paper summarizes the optimization objectives and principles of digital development of prefecture-level cities,and puts forward countermeasures and suggestions to promote digital development and improve the efficiency of green economy.(1)China’s digital development index is on the rise,with significant spatial heterogeneity.The level of each subsystem of digital development has been significantly improved,and the growth rate of each subsystem is represented as digital inclusive finance > digital innovation ability > digital infrastructure > digital industry development.The spatial differentiation of digital development level is significant,showing the differentiation characteristics of eastern region > western region > central region > Northeast region.Prefecture-level cities with higher digital development level are mostly distributed in economically developed regions.The trend of regional differences in digital development is obviously weakened,while the characteristics of spatial agglomeration are continuously enhanced.(2)The efficiency of China’s green economy shows an obvious trend of fluctuation and rise,with significant spatial differentiation.The left end of the kernel density curve of green economy efficiency moves to the right obviously,the number of cities with green economy efficiency lower than 0.20 decreases,the trend of polarization weakens,and the proportion of middle-lower cities is larger.Green economy efficiency has significant spatial differentiation characteristics,and its high value area is concentrated in southeast coastal areas and gradually radiates to inland areas.The Gini coefficient first decreased and then increased,and the regional differences showed a trend of first weakening and then strengthening.The Moran index showed a fluctuating upward trend,and the spatial agglomeration of green economy efficiency was continuously enhanced.(3)There is a significant positive correlation between digital development and green economy efficiency,which can be improved by improving production efficiency,promoting industrial agglomeration and optimization,and reducing environmental pollution.Digital development has significant spatial spillover effect.Digital development in this region can radiate to improve the efficiency of green economy in neighboring regions.Digital infrastructure,digital industry development and digital innovation capability have a significant positive impact on the efficiency of green economy,while digital financial inclusion has a positive but not significant impact on the efficiency of green economy.The mediating effects of industrial structure and technological innovation both pass the significance test.Digital development can promote the efficiency of green economy through technological innovation and industrial structure optimization.(4)The influence of digital development on the efficiency of green economy has regional heterogeneity.The positive effect of digital development on the efficiency of green economy mainly occurred in the eastern region,central region,northeast region,southern region,non-resource-based cities and regions with high level of digital development,while in the western region,northern region,non-resource-based cities and regions with low level of digital development,the impact of digital development on the efficiency of green economy was not significant.The study analyses the spatial and temporal evolution characteristics of green economic efficiency and digital development indices of prefecture-level cities,and explores the impact of digital development on green economic efficiency,spatial spillover effects and paths of action.Firstly,a digital development index system is established from the prefecture-level city scale.Based on the reference to authoritative institutions such as the China Academy of Information and Communication Research,and taking into full consideration the actual situation of the development of China’s prefecture-level cities and the availability of data,four dimensions of digital infrastructure,digital innovation capacity,digital industry development and digital inclusive finance are selected to measure the level of digital development of prefecture-level cities.The study of digital development and green economic efficiency is carried out from the perspective of economic geography,exploring its spatial and temporal evolution characteristics and providing a new research perspective for related studies.Secondly,we explore the spatial spillover effects of digital development on green economic efficiency in prefecture-level cities from the perspective of spatial correlation,and the differences in the impact of digital development on green economic efficiency from the perspective of geographical differentiation,and analyse the impact mechanism of digital development on green economic efficiency in prefecture-level cities.The study provides a decision reference for building a new pattern of green economic development in China in the digital era,and has important theoretical and practical significance for promoting the green development of regional economy.