Can the Digital Economy Empower Low-Carbon Transition Development? New Evidence from Chinese Resource-Based Cities

Hongxia Xu, Honghe Li (), Xiang-Wu Yan, Xinghua Cui, Xiaoyan Liang and Ning Xu
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Hongxia Xu: School of Marxism, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang 453007, China
Honghe Li: School of Political Science and Public Administration, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang 453007, China
Xiang-Wu Yan: School of Economics, Zhejiang University of Finance & Economics, Hangzhou 310018, China
Xinghua Cui: School of Economics, Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics, Nanchang 330013, China
Xiaoyan Liang: School of Economics, Jiangxi University of Finance and Economics, Nanchang 330013, China
Ning Xu: School of Political Science and Public Administration, Henan Normal University, Xinxiang 453007, China

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 14, 1-18

Abstract: Existing research lacks a systematic and comprehensive analysis of the digital economy (DE)’s impact on the low-carbon transformation of resource-based cities. This study utilizes panel data from 114 of these cities in China from 2006 to 2019 to construct a DE measurement system. Based on the global SBM directional distance function and the Malmquist–Luenberger index (SBM-DDF-GML), we calculated the total factor carbon productivity (TFCP), decomposed the carbon inefficiency value (CIV), and examined DE’s impact, mechanism, and heterogeneity on low-carbon transition development (LCTD) during distinct growth phases of resource-based cities. Based on this examination, we found the following: (1) The DE effectively reduced carbon intensity and inefficiency and improved the total factor carbon productivity in resource-based cities. These findings remained robust after a series of robustness tests. (2) The DE empowered LCTD by improving energy efficiency, upgrading industrial structure, and optimizing innovation factor allocation. Finally, (3) this effect varied across the different city stages, being most significant in mature cities and weakest in declining ones. The research findings provide empirical evidence for the LCTD of resource-based cities.

Keywords: digital economy; low-carbon transition; resource-based cities; total factor carbon productivity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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