Policy Implications of Data Element Marketization for Urban Green Development: A Concise Evidence-Based Report from China

This paper investigates the impact of data element marketization on urban green development in China, using the staggered establishment of Big Data Trading Platforms in 269 prefecture-level cities as a quasi-natural experiment. Employing a staggered difference-in-differences (DID) approach, the results show that data element marketization significantly promotes urban green development, particularly by enhancing green technological innovation and FinTech development. The effect is stronger in cities with greater fiscal decentralization, lower fiscal pressure, more advanced market systems, and higher public environmental awareness. Moreover, the influence of local governments’ economic and environmental targets is found to be critical in shaping the green outcomes. This study contributes to the understanding of digital factors in sustainable urban governance and offers practical insights for future policy design in the digital economy era.