How Artificial Intelligence Empowers Rural Industrial Revitalization: A Case Study of Hebei Province

Xia Zhao and Jingjing Yang ()
Additional contact information
Xia Zhao: School of Information Science and Engineering, Hebei North University, Zhangjiakou 075000, China
Jingjing Yang: School of Information Science and Engineering, Hebei North University, Zhangjiakou 075000, China

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 16, 1-27

Abstract: Industrial revitalization is the foundation and top priority of rural revitalization, and artificial intelligence (AI) serves as a core driver of industrial revitalization. This study analyzes how AI empowers the rural industrial revitalization, and it measures the comprehensive development level of AI and rural industrial revitalization using the entropy-weighted TOPSIS method. Utilizing data on prefecture-level cities in Hebei Province from 2003 to 2023, this research empirically investigates the impact of AI on rural industrial revitalization through a two-way fixed-effects model and a mediation effect model. The findings reveal that AI development significantly promotes rural industrial revitalization, a conclusion that holds after robustness tests. Mechanism analysis indicates that AI facilitates rural industrial revitalization by promoting agricultural technological innovation and driving industrial structural upgrading. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the empowering effect of AI on rural industrial revitalization is more pronounced in areas lagging in technological innovation and in the Functional Expansion Zone of Central and Southern Hebei.

Keywords: artificial intelligence; rural industrial revitalization; agricultural technology innovation; industrial structural upgrading (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/16/7382/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/16/7382/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:16:p:7382-:d:1725122

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().