Internet Development and Green Total Factor Productivity: New Evidence of Mediation and Threshold Effects

Wang Jian, Wenjuan Huang, Woraphon Yamaka () and Jianxu Liu
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Wang Jian: School of Economics, Shandong University of Finance and Economics, Jinan 250014, China
Wenjuan Huang: Faculty of Finance and Economics, Wuhan College, Wuhan 430212, China
Woraphon Yamaka: Faculty of Economics, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand
Jianxu Liu: School of Economics, Shandong University of Finance and Economics, Jinan 250014, China

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 16, 1-23

Abstract: The strategy of sustainable development is not only a long-term plan for the survival and development of the Chinese nation, but also an inevitable requirement for the coordinated economic and social development of all countries in the world. With the rapid development of new-generation information technology, the Internet may play an even more important role in the implementation of sustainable development strategies. Using China’s interprovincial panel data from 2011 to 2020, this paper examines the impact of internet development on green total factor productivity (GTFP) and its mechanism of action using a two-way fixed-effects panel model, a mediation effects model and a threshold effects model. The results show that, firstly, internet development can significantly promote the increase in GTFP, and this conclusion still holds after several robustness tests; secondly, internet development can indirectly promote GTFP through optimizing industrial structure, human capital structure and improving technological innovation; thirdly, based on a single threshold effect of advanced industrial structure, advanced human capital and internet development, the impact of the Internet on GTFP is found to be nonlinear. Finally, our study provides policy recommendations for the promotion of green total factor productivity in China.

Keywords: internet development; green total factor productivity; industrial structure upgrading; advanced human capital; technological innovation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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