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Data Science in Finance and Economics

2022, Volume 2, Issue 4: 371-390. doi: 10.3934/DSFE.2022019
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Research article

How does the digital economy affect industrial eco-efficiency? Empirical evidence from China

  • School of Statistics, Lanzhou University of Finance and Economics, Lanzhou, China
  • Received: 02 October 2022 Revised: 23 October 2022 Accepted: 25 October 2022 Published: 31 October 2022

  • JEL Codes: O11, Q57

  • Industry is a sector with large energy consumption and pollutant emissions. Improving industrial eco-efficiency is crucial to energy conservation and pollution reduction. The digital economy has developed rapidly in recent years. However, there is a lack of research on the specific relationship between the digital economy and industrial eco-efficiency. This study measured the industrial eco-efficiency of 30 provinces in China from 2010 to 2020, through a super-efficiency slack-based measure (SBM) considering desirable outputs. By constructing a two-way fixed effect model and a panel quantile model, this study explored the effects of the digital economy on industrial eco-efficiency on a national scale. Furthermore, this study conducted grouping regression and investigated the heterogeneous impacts of the digital economy on industrial eco-efficiency. Finally, this study built a spatial Durbin model to explore the spatial effects of digital economy on industrial eco-efficiency. According to the empirical results, this study yielded the following conclusions. First, the digital economy has a significantly positive effect on industrial eco-efficiency at the national scale, with diminishing marginal returns. Second, the effects of the digital economy on industrial eco-efficiency are significantly heterogeneous on a regional scale. For eastern regions, the effects of the digital economy on industrial eco-efficiency are significantly positive, while they are negative for western regions. Third, the spillover effect of the digital economy on industrial eco-efficiency is not significant in China, indicating that there is digital isolation.

    Citation: Lu Liu, Ming Liu. How does the digital economy affect industrial eco-efficiency? Empirical evidence from China[J]. Data Science in Finance and Economics, 2022, 2(4): 371-390. doi: 10.3934/DSFE.2022019

    Related Papers:

  • Industry is a sector with large energy consumption and pollutant emissions. Improving industrial eco-efficiency is crucial to energy conservation and pollution reduction. The digital economy has developed rapidly in recent years. However, there is a lack of research on the specific relationship between the digital economy and industrial eco-efficiency. This study measured the industrial eco-efficiency of 30 provinces in China from 2010 to 2020, through a super-efficiency slack-based measure (SBM) considering desirable outputs. By constructing a two-way fixed effect model and a panel quantile model, this study explored the effects of the digital economy on industrial eco-efficiency on a national scale. Furthermore, this study conducted grouping regression and investigated the heterogeneous impacts of the digital economy on industrial eco-efficiency. Finally, this study built a spatial Durbin model to explore the spatial effects of digital economy on industrial eco-efficiency. According to the empirical results, this study yielded the following conclusions. First, the digital economy has a significantly positive effect on industrial eco-efficiency at the national scale, with diminishing marginal returns. Second, the effects of the digital economy on industrial eco-efficiency are significantly heterogeneous on a regional scale. For eastern regions, the effects of the digital economy on industrial eco-efficiency are significantly positive, while they are negative for western regions. Third, the spillover effect of the digital economy on industrial eco-efficiency is not significant in China, indicating that there is digital isolation.


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