The Impact of Digital Economy Development on Green Technology Innovation: Based on the Threshold Effect of Different Types of Environmental Regulations

Since entering the new norm, the digital economy has become an important driving force for China's economic transformation and upgrading. Based on the panel data of China's provinces from 2011 to 2021, the relationship between digital economy development, green technology innovation and environmental regulation is studied by using panel threshold model. The results show that the influence of the development of digital economy on green technology innovation is U-shaped. When the degree of formal environmental regulation crosses a single threshold, the incentive impact on innovation in green technologies is weakened, while the degree of informal environmental regulation crosses a triple threshold, the incentive impact on green technology innovation is gradually increased. The innovation effect of digital economy on green technology has regional heterogeneity. The east region and highly industrialized areas have a higher degree of economic development, which plays more significant role in promoting the level of green technology innovation. Therefore, we should make greet efforts to develop the digital economy, promote the coordination of environmental regulation, strengthen regional cooperation as well.