Assessing the impacts of digital economy on urban green development efficiency

Digital economy is playing a key role on supporting green development. As a result, it is extremely essential to measure the potential impacts of digital economy on green development. This study aims to investigate the spatial spillover effect and its geographical boundary between digital economy and green development by the means of data set from 280 Chinese cities for the period of 2011-2020. Additionally, the spatial correlation network and spatial scale difference are uncovered by employing the social network analysis and the multi-scale geography weighted regression model, respectively. We find that digital economy can significantly improve the overall green development efficiency, and the spatial spillover effect is extremely valid under five different static and dynamic spatial weight matrices. Moreover, from a geographical perspective, digital economy is more likely to support green development in the eastern region than in the central and western regions. These findings provide valuable policy insights so that appropriate policies can be prepared to stimulate green development through the digital economy.