Digital Economy, R&amp;D Investment, and Regional Green Innovation—Analysis Based on Provincial Panel Data in China

China's economic development has entered a new historical stage, and it is crucial to coordinate the linkage between economic development, resource allocation and environmental protection in this new stage. In view of this, this paper selects the panel data of 30 provinces (municipalities and autonomous regions) in China from 2011 to 2020, and firstly measures the Green Total Factor Productivity (GTFP) by using Slack Based Measure -Malmquist Luenberger method (SBM-ML); Then, the relationship between the development of digital economy and regional GTFP is analyzed by using the two-way fixed effect model and threshold effect; Finally, relevant policy suggestions are put forward. This paper found that: firstly, the development of digital economy significantly improves China's GTFP, and the conclusion still valid after considering a series of robustness tests; Secondly, there are obvious disparities in the development level of digital economy among provinces, and the development level of coastal areas is generally higher than that of inland areas, and according to the sub-regional regression results, the positive effect of digital economy on GTFP has regional heterogeneity, and the development of digital economy in coastal areas has a more significant effect on the enhancement of GTFP, while this effect in inland areas does not pass the significance test; Thirdly, according to the threshold effect test results, there is also a single threshold effect with institutional environment and technological innovation as the threshold variables for the impact of digital economy on GTFP in China.

Section: Digital Economymentioning

confidence: 99%

Has the development of the digital economy improved green total factor productivity in China?—A study based on data at the provincial level in China

Wang

Xue

2023

“…The development of the digital economy improves the efficiency of resource allocation and utilization by enterprises, improves their profitability, releases more resources within enterprises (Thompson et al, 2013), and encourages the input of innovation resources. The digital economy aims to achieve innovative development by increasing R&D and human capital investments in enterprises (Dai et al, 2022). Second, the development of the digital economy positively affects enterprise innovation output.…”

Section: Digital Economy Development Enterprise Innovation and Esg Pe...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Urban digital economy development, enterprise innovation, and ESG performance in China

Chen

Han

2022

This study analyzes the influence of urban digital economy development on enterprise ESG performance in China and its enterprise innovation channels. Based on matching micro-level data of enterprises and macro-level data of prefecture-level cities from 2012 to 2020, this study uses OLS to conduct empirical estimation and uses a multiple mediation effect model to test the influencing mechanism. Our findings demonstrate that the development of an urban digital economy significantly improves enterprise ESG performance in China. Additionally, the development of the digital economy can boost enterprise ESG performance by enhancing innovation input intensity, improving innovation output capacity, and enhancing innovation input intensity to improve innovation output capacity. Furthermore, we find that the development of the digital economy in eastern and northeastern China significantly improves enterprise ESG performance, urban agglomerations play a central role in the process of digital economy development improving enterprise ESG performance, and the development of the digital economy significantly enhances enterprise ESG performance in younger enterprises. Overall, our findings improve and enrich the research on the digital economy and enterprise development from the perspective of micro-enterprises and macro development. Moreover, they provide theoretical support and empirical evidence for the development of the digital economy and the realization of enterprises’ sustainable development.

“…For example, Dou and Gao (2022) used provincial data as an example to illustrate the double-edged role of the digital economy on green innovation. Dai et al (2022) also argued that with the development of a digital economy in China, its ability to promote green innovation would be stronger. In addition, some researchers worldwide examined digital technologies (Morello et al, 2016;Lu et al, 2021;Sharma et al, 2021;Firoiu et al, 2022;Khan et al, 2022; and digitization (Martin et al, 2018;Umar et al, 2021;Abdulai, 2022;Ma and Zhu, 2022) to indirectly prove a positive link between the digital economy and green innovation (Table 1).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How does the digital economy promote green technology innovation by manufacturing enterprises? Evidence from China

Ning

Yin

2022

With the rapid development of the digital economy and the increasingly severe environmental issues, the role of the digital economy in green innovation has been attracting more attention; however, only a limited amount of research has been done in this area. Therefore, based on matching data at the city and manufacturing enterprise level in China during 2011–2018, this paper attempted to integrate the digital economy (more specifically, the Internet and digital finance) with resource allocation and green technology innovation together in a unified scheme. Our study confirmed that the digital economy could significantly promote green technology innovation by manufacturing enterprises, but that digital finance was the dominant feature. Resource allocation efficiency played a partial mediating role between digital economy and green technology innovation. Furthermore, considering the heterogeneity in enterprise ownership and industrial pollution, the digital economy had a more positive effect on green technology innovation in state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and high pollution industries. As for the heterogeneity of region, the Internet significantly contributed to green technology innovation in regions with different levels of development. In the eastern region of China, especially, the influence of digital finance on green technology innovation was more significant. In view of these findings, this study provides important insights for strengthening the integration of the digital economy with green transformation, emphasizing the rationality of resource allocation, and formulating policies for different enterprises.