Digital economy, spatial spillover and industrial green innovation efficiency: Empirical evidence from China

Exploring the path of digital governance of urban industrial pollution: empirical evidence from 280 cities in China

Urban industrial pollution plays a dominant role in environmental pollution in China. Exploring the digital governance path of urban industrial pollution can provide strong support for improving environmental quality. This article empirically investigates the role and path of digitalization in the governance of urban industrial pollution from three dimensions: economic scale, structural scale, and technological scale. The results show that there is an inverted "U"-shaped relationship between digitalization and urban industrial pollution, with initial promotion followed by suppression. Among them, economic scale, industrial transformation and upgrading, and green innovation are the paths for digital governance of urban industrial pollution. In addition, there is a chain path of "green innovation-industrial transformation and upgrading" between the two. Through spatial Durbin model and regional heterogeneity analysis, it is found that digitalization has a spatial spillover effect on urban industrial pollution control, and eastern regions, regions with high economic development level and industrialized cities benefit more from digital urban industrial pollution control. The research conclusions of this article provide references for the Chinese government to formulate relevant policies, deepen the integration of digitalization and urban industrial pollution, and promote digital governance of urban industrial pollution.

Does the digital economy really help reduce industrial carbon intensity? Empirical evidence from intermediate inputs of digital products in China

The booming digital economy is promoting industrial upgrading and transformation, providing an opportunity for the industrial low-carbon development. Based on input-output analysis and panel data regression, the impact of the input of intermediate digital products on Chinese industrial carbon intensity from 1997 to 2017 has been evaluated. The results reveal that the input of China's intermediate digital products can significantly reduce industrial carbon intensity, and significantly reduce the carbon intensity of non-energy-intensive industries. It has also been discovered that the input of intermediate digital product manufacturing can significantly reduce the carbon intensity of different types of industries, while the input of the intermediate digital products services industry has no significant effect on the reduction of industrial carbon intensity. Channel analysis shows that the input of the intermediate digital products can reduce industrial carbon intensity by improving productive efficiency and promoting innovative technology. In the current climate, it is especially necessary to increase the input of the intermediate digital product manufacturing industry in industrial development.

Does digital economy keep enterprises out of green innovation trouble? evidence from "double carbon" goal

The proposal of the "dual carbon" targets has provided direction for promoting China's economic green transformation and green innovation. As enterprises are important entities driving technological innovation in China, enhancing their green innovation capabilities holds significant practical significance for reducing carbon emissions. While the flourishing development of the digital economy currently provides new avenues and impetus for enterprise green innovation, research on the micro-level effects of green innovation driven by digital economy is still lacking. Therefore, based on data from Chinese cities spanning 2010 to 2021 and micro-level data of listed enterprises, this paper employs fixed effect model and intermediary effect model to empirically test the effect and mechanism of urban digital economy development on the quality and quantity of enterprise green innovation. Additionally, it investigates the carbon emission reduction effect resulting from digital economy development. The findings are as follows: (1) The development of digital economy exhibits a significant green innovation effect, effectively enhancing both the "quality and quantity" of enterprise green innovation. Particularly noteworthy is its impact on the quality of green innovation in enterprises, a result corroborated by several robustness tests. (2) Promoting regional knowledge spillover and alleviating enterprise financing constraints emerge as mechanisms through which the digital economy enhances the "quality and quantity" of enterprise green innovation. (3) Heterogeneity testing reveals that the digital economy exerts a greater green innovation effect on enterprises located in regions characterized by higher environmental regulations, high-tech industries, and state-owned enterprises. (4) Further analysis demonstrates that the digital economy effectively reduces enterprises carbon emissions and enhances their carbon performance by driving green innovation, thus providing endogenous impetus for achieving the "dual carbon" goals. By examining the effects and mechanisms of green innovation driven by digital economy from the perspectives of promoting knowledge spillover and alleviating financing constraints, this study enriches theoretical research on the relationship between the digital economy and green innovation at the enterprise micro-level. It offers new insights for governments in formulating green innovation policies and serves as a reference for green innovation decision-making in other developing countries.

Digital economy and fiscal decentralization: Drivers of green innovation in China

The impact of government behavior under a fiscal decentralization system on the interplay between the digital economy and both the quality and efficiency of green innovation poses an intriguing question. To address this, the present study employs two-way fixed-effects models, instrumental variables, and spatial econometric techniques, using data from 30 provinces and cities in China spanning 2004 to 2019. The findings reveal that the advancement of the digital economy significantly enhances the quality and efficiency of green innovation. In the context of China's fiscal decentralization, local governments frequently employ a "race to the top" strategy, amplifying the digital economy's beneficial impact on green innovation. This effect is particularly pronounced in economically prosperous regions that prioritize environmental assessments. Additionally, the study identifies a spatial demonstration effect, indicating that fiscal decentralization bolsters the digital economy's influence in adjacent regions. Consequently, policy recommendations include deepening the digital economy, advocating for increased fiscal autonomy for local governments, refining the performance appraisal systems for local officials, and establishing a well-calibrated environmental transfer mechanism. Further, leveraging the positive spatial correlations among local governments can foster a competitive yet collaborative landscape for green innovation.

Measurement and spatio-temporal heterogeneity analysis of coupling coordination between development of digital economy and agricultural carbon emission performance

The new development pattern has identified two key avenues for the sustained advancement of high-quality agricultural and rural development: digitalisation and low-carbon development. The measurement of the digital economy and the agricultural carbon emission performance, and their spatial and temporal heterogeneity, is a crucial step in promoting the spatial coordination and sustainable development of digitalisation and low-carbon agriculture. This paper employs the entropy value method, SBM model, and coupling coordination degree model to investigate the coupling coordination measurement and spatial-temporal heterogeneity of the performance of the digital economy and agricultural carbon emissions. The data used are provincial panel data from 2013 to 2021. The simulation results demonstrate that, between 2013 and 2021, the digital economy of all provinces exhibited varying degrees of growth, yet the development of the digital economy between provinces exhibited a more pronounced tendency to diverge. Concurrently, the agricultural carbon emission efficiency in China exhibited a fluctuating upward trend. The development of the digital economy and the efficiency of agricultural carbon emission were found to be highly coupled. Their coupling and coordination relationship showed a downward trend followed by an upward trend. In general, it is suggested that we should increase investment in digital economy infrastructure and technology, promote digital agricultural applications, strengthen policy guidance and financial support, establish a coupling coordination mechanism and strengthen farmers' digital literacy and environmental awareness.

Quantifying the supply-demand relationship of ecosystem services to identify ecological management zoning: A case study in mountainous areas of northwest Yunnan, China

Establishing ecological management zones based on the supply-demand relationship of ecosystem services (ESs) is essential for fostering sustainable development within social-ecological systems and improving human well-being. In this study, the spatial pattern between supply and demand in five ESs (grain production (GP), carbon sequestration (CS), soil conservation (SC), water conservation (WC), and habitat quality (HQ)) is analyzed using the ESs supply-demand ratio (ESDR) method, the spatial autocorrelation method, and the coupled coordination degree model. Zoning is performed according to the differences in their spatial combinations, and differential zoning management policies are proposed. The following results were obtained: (1) In terms of the ESDR, except for a slight increase in GP surplus from 2010 to 2020, there is a decline in the surplus of the other four ESs. (2) CS, WC, and HQ are dominated by cluster types LH and HL. GP and SC are dominated by cluster types HH and LL. The average value of the coupling coordination degree (CCD) of comprehensive ESs supply and demand show five types: moderate disharmony, slight disharmony, near disharmony, basic coordination, and slight coordination. (3) Based on the multiple spatial heterogeneity of ESs supply and demand, differentiated ecological management strategies are proposed at the grid scale. Overall, this study discover the spatial pattern of mismatch between the supply and demand of ecosystem services (ESs) in mountainous urban areas. This contribution enhances the discourse surrounding sustainable development theory and advances research on the coupling of social-ecological systems. Furthermore, it offers valuable insights for the formulation of sustainable ecological management policies tailored to mountainous urban settings.

Analysis of the spatiotemporal evolution and influencing factors of green development level in the manufacturing industry

The manufacturing sector is the main battlefield of energy saving and carbon reduction in China, and vigorously promoting energy saving and carbon reduction in manufacturing and enhancing the green development level are the key links to support China's realization of the dual-carbon goal. The article adopts the SBM-GML model to measure the level of green development of the manufacturing industry in China. Based on this, it analyzes the spatio-temporal characteristics and the evolution law of the level of green development of the manufacturing industry by using the Dagum Gini Coefficient and Kernel Density Estimation. Using a spatial econometric model to explore the influencing factors of the level of green development of the manufacturing industry. The study finds that the green development level of the manufacturing industry has achieved remarkable results in recent years, but there are differences in the development level of each region. The regional differences in the level of green development of the manufacturing industry are significant. The optimization of manufacturing structure is a key factor influencing the level of green development of the manufacturing industry, and there is a positive spatial spillover effect of manufacturing structure optimization. However, The green development of the manufacturing industry shows a negative spatial spillover effect. The article proposes optimization paths based on the requirements of dual-carbon targets and regional characteristics, which is an important inspiration and reference for the green development level of the manufacturing industry in the world.

The impact of digital economy on rural revitalization: Evidence from Guangdong, China

Background

Digital technology and economy have profound impact on rural revitalization and become important initiatives to promote rural development. This study analyzes the spatial effect of digital economy on rural revitalization in Guangdong, China.

Method

The entropy weight method is used to evaluate the level of rural revitalization and digital economy in 20 prefecture level cities of Guangdong province during 2011-2021. Spatial panel model is used to analyze the spatial spillover effect of digital economy on rural revitalization. Threshold model is employed to analyze the marginal effects of the digital economy on rural revitalization. Heterogeneous analysis is made by grouping the prefecture-level cities into four regions: the Pearl River Delta (PRD), the East Wing, the West Wing and the Mountainous region.

Results

Both the level of rural revitalization and digital economy development in every prefecture-level city experienced an increase during 2011-2021 and the PRD region take the lead in both the rural revitalization and digital economy. There is significant spatial spillover effect of digital economy on the rural revitalization as a whole (the coefficient is about 0.3537). However, in the regions with a low level of digital economic development, there is a negative impact (-0.1847) of the digital economy on rural revitalization; while in regions with medium or high level of digital economy, it has a significant positive effect (0.3835) on rural revitalization. The impact of digital economy on rural revitalization development is significantly greater in the PRD (0.3141), the East Wing (0.7215), the West Wing (0.5467) than in the mountainous region (0.2238).

Conclusions

There is significant spatial differentiation in the digital economy and rural revitalization. The digital economy has significant spatial spillover effect on the rural revitalization. And this effect is found out to have heterogeneous and non-linear characteristics. In order to promote rural revitalization, it is necessary to make full use of the digital economy and technology in rural areas. Besides, it is important to improve the digital skills and literary of the rural population so that the digital economy could play a greater role in rural revitalization.

Empirical analysis of factors influencing industrial eco-efficiency in the Yellow River Basin from a social embeddedness perspective

Measuring industrial eco-efficiency (IEE) is essential to improve environmental quality and industrial restructuring. However, most studies ignore the influence of embeddedness on industrial eco-efficiency and lack analysis of the pathways of influence factors. Therefore, this study assesses industrial eco-efficiency in the Yellow River Basin (YRB) using a super-efficiency model slacks-based measure (Super-SBM) that considers non-desired outputs, outlines the social embeddedness of IEE, and empirically analyzes the driving mechanism of IEE from the perspective of embeddedness by constructing hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) to address the pathways of action of the influencing factors of industrial eco-efficiency. The results showed that 50.79% of the overall differences in IEE in the YRB were caused by social embeddedness. Economic development level, industrial agglomeration, and environmental regulation (ER) are significant direct influencing factors. Increasing cognitive and cultural embeddedness will enhance the positive relationship between economic development level and IEE. Political and relational embeddedness significantly moderates the positive relationship between industrial agglomeration and eco-efficiency. Cultural embeddedness can significantly and directly affect industrial eco-efficiency and weaken the positive relationship between ERs and industrial eco-efficiency. Therefore, improving IEE should consider both fundamental and embedded factors. Our findings are conducive to promoting high-quality development in the YRB and support the government in formulating differentiated policies. In addition, this paper tries to establish an empirical analysis method suitable for social embeddedness theory, and the empirical results help to improve the situation due to the lack of empirical analysis of social embeddedness theory.

Will customer change affect enterprise innovation efficiency? A study from the perspective of social networks

An enterprise innovation strategy is the driving force for the healthy and sustainable development of enterprises, and high-quality, efficient innovation is important for improving enterprises' market value and promoting their high-quality development. Customer relationships are an important factor affecting enterprise product technology and enterprise innovation; however, few studies have evaluated the impact of customer change on innovation efficiency. Therefore, from the perspective of social capital, we use China's listed manufacturing companies' data from 2013 to 2020 to systematically examine how customer changes affect enterprise innovation performance, and test the impact of social networks on the relationship between customer change and enterprise innovation efficiency. The empirical research shows that customer change reduces enterprises' innovation efficiency, and that social network relationships have an intermediary effect on the relationship between customer change and innovation efficiency; that is, the social network relationships reduce the negative impact of customer change on enterprise innovation efficiency. Further analysis shows that this mediating effect is not obvious for enterprises experiencing large customer changes but is prominent for nonstate-owned or nontechnology-intensive enterprises. Our study enriches and expands the research on how customer relationships influence enterprise innovation efficiency, clarifies different mechanisms due to various "networks", and provides new empirical evidence to enable enterprises to improve their competitiveness.

Digital transformation, productive services agglomeration and innovation performance

Innovation is a necessary guarantee for sustainable development. Stepping into the digital age, digital transformation has triggered the innovation revolution. This paper takes 30 provinces in China from 2012 to 2022 as the research sample, we verify whether digital transformation has improved innovation performance. Based on the Solow growth model and agglomeration economics theory, we also explore the moderating role and threshold effect of agglomeration in productive service industry between digital transformation and innovation performance. To achieve this, we apply the methods of machine learning and text analysis to construct an evaluation index of regional digital transformation and measure it. The paper finds that China's digital transformation index is increasing, but there is a digital divide between regions. We also determine that digital transformation significantly and positively contributes to the level of innovation performance. Considering the threshold effect of agglomeration in productive service industry, the impact of digital transformation on innovation performance exhibits non-linear characteristics, As the level of agglomeration continues to exceed the threshold, the innovation-driven effect of digital transformation increases. The research results help clarify the relationship between digital transformation and innovation performance, and provide favorable policy directions for regional governments to identify digital divides and make reasonable industrial layouts. Thus, it can promote the construction of digital China and innovation power, injecting strong innovation force into the realization of SDGs.

The impact of digital infrastructure on provincial green innovation efficiency-empirical evidence from China

In the epoch of the digital economy, technological innovation and energy conservation are significantly facilitated by digital infrastructure, leading to substantial improvements in green innovation efficiency at the provincial level. This study employed the feasible generalized least square (FGLS) method to examine the effects of digital infrastructure on the green innovation efficiency across 30 provinces in the Chinese mainland, utilizing panel data from 2011 to 2020. Additionally, this investigation delves into the intervening role of industrial structure upgrading and the amplifying effects of environmental regulation and human capital on the process. Findings indicate that, to begin with, digital infrastructure contributes to the meaningful enhancement of green innovation efficiency within provinces. Subsequently, the industrial structure upgrading partially mediates the impact of digital infrastructure on the efficiency of provincial green innovation. Lastly, both human capital and environmental regulations amplify the beneficial influence of digital infrastructure on the effectiveness of green innovation at the provincial level. This study provides valuable insights into the mechanisms through which digital infrastructure boosts green innovation efficiency, aiding policymakers in formulating appropriate policies to augment digital infrastructure, thereby promoting provincial green innovation efficiency.

Does digital economy curb carbon intensity? New insights from China

China is in the period of vigorously developing the "digital economy" and "low-carbon economy," facing the double pressure of realizing the "dual-carbon" target and maintaining stable economic growth. This paper tests the role of the digital economy (DIEC) in the process of carbon emission reduction for the advancement of low carbon economy based on this issue from the perspective of carbon intensity (CI) by constructing a fixed effects and mediation effects model using data from 30 areas from 2011 to 2021. The study results show that at the national level, the advancement of DIEC significantly inhibits CI, and the conclusion still holds after various robustness tests. From the geographic region level, the suppression of CI by digital economic advancement has the most substantial impact in the central region. Although the eastern and western areas have similar results, the significance level is higher in the east region. When considering the economic development level, the impact of DIEC on CI is more significant in areas with lower economic development than those with higher economic growth. In analyzing the path of the DIEC affecting CI, it is found that the DIEC mainly inhibits CI by promoting technological advancement and reducing energy consumption intensity.

Digital economy impact on inclusive green growth: intermediary and spatial spillover effects in China

As a new economic form that has emerged from the technological and digital revolution, the digital economy has great benefits to the green development of the economy, protection of the ecological environment, and improvement in social well-being. This study examines whether the digital economy affects the inclusive green growth (IGG). Measurement index system for the digital economy and IGG from 2013 to 2020 in China was constructed and the entropy evaluation method and super-efficiency epsilon-based measure (Super-EBM) model was used to evaluate them. We examined the direct effect, mediation effect, and spatial spillover effect of the digital economy on IGG using the basic regression model, mediating effect model, and the spatial Durbin model. Our results revealed that the development of the digital economy has clear regional differences. The role of digital economy on IGG has positive direct effects and positive spatial spillover effects. The digital economy affects IGG through industrial structure upgrading, so industrial structure upgrading has a significant intermediary effect. By comparing the coefficients, we found that the spatial spillover effects are stronger than the direct effects. Absorbing the spillover of the digital economy in surrounding areas is particularly important for promoting IGG. Heterogeneity analysis revealed that the digital economy is better for IGG and releases more digital dividends in eastern China. Finally, the research conclusions of this paper provide reference for the Chinese government to formulate relevant policies to deepen the integration of digital information technology and IGG, and promote the coordinated development of regional digital economy and IGG.

Inherent mechanism of digital technology application empowered corporate green innovation: Based on resource allocation perspective

Confronted with the treacherous digital wave and the aggressive environmental challenges, digital technology and green innovation are becoming critical tools for corporations to secure a sustainable advantage. The significance of identifying the role of digital technology application on corporate green innovation has been widely debated in the extant literature. Nevertheless, few researchers have investigated the inherent mechanism between them from the resource allocation perspective. From this research gap, we construct a theoretical model of the inherent mechanism by which digital technology application affects corporate green innovation, validate it using listed corporations in China from 2011 to 2020, and further investigate the differences in their inherent mechanism triggered by property rights and industry competition. We found that digital technology application is effective in promoting corporate green innovation. Stronger green innovation effect of digital technology application in state-owned corporations and those in highly competitive industries. The inherent mechanism between them manifest in optimizing the allocation of conventional labor, expanding the scale of non-conventional labor, and enhancing investment in R&D and digital infrastructure capital. We further explored that the impact of applying digital technology to optimize conventional labor allocation, expand non-conventional labor scale, and enhance investment in R&D and digital infrastructure capital is stronger for corporations in highly competitive industries than those in lowly competitive industries. The difference is that the role of the digital technology application in boosting capital investment in R&D does not differ across corporations with different property rights. Findings provide theoretical and empirical evidence on effectively developing the digital technology application's green innovative effects.

Analysis of coupled coordination and spatial interaction effects between manufacturing and logistics industries in the Yellow River Basin of China

The coupled and coordinated development of the manufacturing and logistics industries has become an inevitable choice for achieving high-quality development in both sectors. In this study, we focused on nine provinces located in the Yellow River Basin and analyzed panel data from 2010 to 2021. Our analysis, based on the super-efficient SBM-undesirable model, revealed that the coupling and coordination efficiency between the two industries in the region is moderate, with significant regional disparities. Additionally, using the Global Moran's I and the local Moran's I, we tested the spatial autocorrelation of the two industries and analyzed their spatial interaction effect using SDM. The study reveals that the manufacturing and logistics industries in the Yellow River Basin exhibit moderate coupling and coordination efficiency with significant regional variations. We found that the logistics industry plays a more supportive role in the manufacturing industry, particularly in Henan and Shandong provinces. Spatial spillover effects in terms of informationization, openness to the outside world, and energy consumption are more significant, while infrastructure investment does not exhibit significant spatial interaction effects. Based on our findings, we propose relevant development strategies for the two industries.