The Impact of the Digital Economy on China’s New-Type Urbanization: Evidence from Spatial Econometrics

Despite China’s digital economy (DE) growing faster, little is known about how DE influences the National New-type Urbanization (NTU). To answer this question, we collect relevant panel data from 31 provinces in mainland China from 2011 to 2021 and conduct empirical analyses with spatial econometric models. The empirical results demonstrate that DE is significant for China’s NTU and has spatial spillover effects. To be more precise, DE not only promotes the process of NTU in the local region but also places restrictions on it in the neighboring regions. An investigation of the mediating mechanisms shows that two important channels through which DE influences NTU are technological innovation and the human capital level. The analysis of the moderating effect shows that the higher the economic development level, the weaker the promotion effect of DE on NTU. Moreover, DE’s positive impact on NTU is more pronounced in central and western regions or regions with poor digital infrastructure.