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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

Sec. Agricultural and Food Economics

Volume 9 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fsufs.2025.1634474

The impact of industrial policies oriented towards the digital economy on the resilience of the agricultural industrial chain

Provisionally accepted
Aruna  BaoAruna BaoMeixuan  HeMeixuan He*Quan  ZhouQuan ZhouHonggui  GaoHonggui Gao
  • Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Abstract:Enhancing the resilience of the agricultural industrial chain(RAIC) is crucial for ensuring food security and promoting rural development, and developing the digital economy is a key path in this regard. This paper focuses on the policy practice of the National Digital Economy Innovation and Development Pilot Zone(DEPZ), regarding it as a quasi-natural experiment. Based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2012 to 2022, using PSM-DID, it empirically examines the impact of the DEPZ policy on RAIC and its internal mechanism. The research found that the DEPZ policy significantly increased RAIC within the region. Its mechanism of action is mainly reflected in: enhancing resilience through two intermediary paths, namely alleviating the financing constraints(FC) of agricultural business entities and promoting agricultural technological innovation(ATI). Further analysis reveals that the level of urban-rural integration(URI) has played a positive moderating role in the mediation process of alleviating the above-mentioned FC and promoting ATI. This study provides empirical evidence for understanding the specific mechanisms by which the digital economy empowers agricultural modernization and indicates that the precise application of industrial policies, especially the coordinated promotion of the development of the digital economy and the integration of urban and rural areas, is an important strategic direction for effectively enhancing the resilience of the agricultural industrial chain.

Keywords: DEPZ policy, RAIC, digital economy, Industrial policy, PSM-DID

Received: 24 May 2025; Accepted: 23 Jul 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Bao, He, Zhou and Gao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Meixuan He, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, Wuhan, China

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