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Does digital economy agglomeration promote green economy efficiency? A spatial spillover and spatial heterogeneity perspective

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Abstract

The digital economy has been booming in China in recent years and is characterized by spatial agglomeration. However, there is little literature examining the impact of the digital economy from the perspective of agglomeration, especially in the field of environmental economics. This paper explores the spatial spillover effects and spatial heterogeneity of digital economy agglomeration (DIG) on green economic efficiency (GEE). Using provincial panel data of China from 2011 to 2020, this paper constructs a digital economy indicator system and calculates the degree of DIG. Using the static and dynamic spatial Durbin models and geographic and time-weighted regression (GTWR) method, the spatial effects of DIG on GEE and its mechanism were investigated. The results indicate that: (1) the indirect and total effects of DIG on GEE are significantly positive, both in the short and long term, but the direct effects are not significant. (2) DIG influences GEE through green technological innovation and industrial structure upgrading. (3) The effect of DIG on GEE is spatial heterogeneity. The minimum value of the coefficient of DIG is − 0.300 and the maximum value is 0.878. (4) DIG in developed and more foreign-invested provinces has a greater contribution to GEE. These findings provide a reference for the government to plan the layout of the digital economy and achieve high-quality green economic development.

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Data availability

Data and materials supporting this study’s findings are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Notes

  1. The data are from a white paper on the development of China’s digital economy (2022).

  2. Due to the limitation of space, the introduction of entropy TOPSIS method is omitted. Readers who need it may contact the corresponding author for a copy.

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Acknowledgements

This research was financially supported by the Major Program of Hubei Social Science Foundation of China (Grant No. HBSK2019ZD0035). The authors would like to thank the funded project for providing material for this research.

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  1. School of Economics and Management, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China

    Hongyang Yu, **chao Wang, Jiajun Xu & Binghao Ding

  2. Research Center for Two Mountains Transformation and Green Development, Zhejiang University of Technology, Hangzhou, 310014, China

    Hongyang Yu

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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by JX, JW, BD and HY. The first draft of the manuscript was written by JX and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Jiajun Xu.

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Yu, H., Wang, J., Xu, J. et al. Does digital economy agglomeration promote green economy efficiency? A spatial spillover and spatial heterogeneity perspective. Environ Dev Sustain (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-023-04197-7

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