AUTHOR=Wang Shijin , Xue Zhichao 

TITLE=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

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Environmental Science

VOLUME=Volume 11 - 2023

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/environmental-science/articles/10.3389/fenvs.2023.1073997

DOI=10.3389/fenvs.2023.1073997

ISSN=2296-665X

ABSTRACT=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 takes the panel data of 30 provinces (regions and cities) in China from 2011 to 2020 as the research sample, and firstly measures the green total factor productivity by using SBM-Malmquist Luenberger method; then empirically analyzes the effect of digital economy development on green total factor productivity and draws relevant conclusions. It is found that: firstly, the development of digital economy significantly improves China's green total factor productivity, 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 green total factor productivity has regional heterogeneity, and the development of digital economy in coastal areas has a more significant effect on the enhancement of green total factor productivity, 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 green total factor productivity in China.