The economic and environmental dividends of the digital development strategy: Evidence from Chinese cities
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2-1-2024
Abstract
Digital development is critical for achieving coordinated regional economic growth, energy conservation, and emissions reduction, which makes it a viable method for achieving carbon neutrality and peaks. This study investigates the impact of the digital economy on urban total factor productivity and carbon emissions, as well as its mechanism, from 2011 to 2019 by developing a digital economy evaluation index system. We find that the growth of the digital economy can increase urban total factor productivity while lowering carbon emissions and also has a significant spatial spillover effect on regional economic growth, energy conservation, and emissions reduction. The main influencing mechanism is that the digital economy accelerates marketization by encouraging industrial structure upgrades and technological progress, which results in higher total factor productivity and lower energy consumption. In terms of the spatial distribution, the digital economy promotes total factor productivity more in the central and western regions and large cities and promotes carbon emission reduction less in the eastern regions and smaller cities. The findings extend the benefits of the digital economy beyond economic and social welfare benefits and serve as a model for achieving a win-win situation in terms of both economic growth and carbon emissions reduction.
Keywords
Digital economy, Economic growth, Carbon neutralization, Carbon emission, Total factor productivity
Divisions
Faculty_of_Business_and_Accountancy
Publication Title
Journal of Cleaner Production
Volume
440
Publisher
Elsevier
Publisher Location
125 London Wall, London, ENGLAND