Impact of the Digital Economy on the Green Economy: Evidence from China

Chenggang Wang, Tiansen Liu (), Danli Du, Yue Zhu, Zuolong Zheng and Hanchen Li
Additional contact information
Chenggang Wang: School of Economics and Management, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin 150006, China
Tiansen Liu: School of Economics and Management, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin 150006, China
Danli Du: School of Economics and Management, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin 150006, China
Yue Zhu: School of Economics and Business Administration, Heilongjiang University, Harbin 150006, China
Zuolong Zheng: School of Economics and Management, Suzhou University of Science and Technology, Suzhou 215009, China
Hanchen Li: School of Economics and Business Administration, Heilongjiang University, Harbin 150006, China

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 21, 1-24

Abstract: In recent years, the digital economy and the green economy have become integral parts of China’s economy. Chinese government has been actively expanding its support for the development of these sectors. However, there are still several obstacles hindering the progress of the digital economy and the green economy in China. The objective of this study is to delve into the impact mechanism of the digital economy on the green economy. Moreover, this paper innovatively integrates industrial structure and technological innovation into this impact process. We elucidate the significant roles played by these two mediating variables. Simultaneously, we employ the bidirectional fixed-effect model, baseline regression, and robustness tests to analyze the data from 31 provinces in China between 2012 and 2021. The conclusions of this study are as follows: (1) The development of the digital economy in China contributes to the improvement of the level of the green economy. (2) When the digital economy influences the green economy, the upgrading of industrial structure and technological innovation play significant roles. (3) The impact of the digital economy on the green economy varies across diverse regions in China. This study reveals the impact mechanism of the digital economy on the development of the green economy using variables of industrial structure and technological innovation. It enriches the research content in this field and extends the application scenarios of related research methods. The conclusions provide valuable references for promoting the development of both the digital economy and the green economy in China.

Keywords: digital economy; industrial structure; technological innovation; green economy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/21/9217/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/21/9217/ (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:16:y:2024:i:21:p:9217-:d:1505342

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 ().