The Impact of Opening-up on Digital Economy:A Perspective on Government Support

In the era of rapid globalization and accelerating digital transformation, understanding how external openness interacts with domestic digital development has become a pressing research question. Drawing on panel data from 29 Chinese provinces covering 2012-2022, this study examines the influence of opening-up on the development of the digital economy from the perspective of policy support, using a panel threshold effect model. The empirical results indicate three key findings: (1) opening-up exerts a significant negative impact on digital economy growth; (2) fiscal expenditure on science and technology acts as the sole threshold variable in this relationshiponce such spending surpasses the identified threshold, the adverse effect of opening-up is markedly alleviated; (3) notable regional disparities exist, with strong negative effects observed in the eastern, western, and northeastern regions, while the impact in central China is statistically insignificant. These findings offer practical insights for optimizing the spatial layout of opening-up and refining policy support frameworks to foster high-quality development of the digital economy.