How does the digital economy development promote urban land green utilization efficiency? A perspective of land resource misallocation

The digital economy development(DED) brings new opportunities for urban land green utilization. This paper empirically analyzes the impact and mechanisms of DED on urban land green utilization efficiency (LGUE). The results show that DED has a significant positive effect on LGUE and works by reducing land space mismatches(LSM). Government land-finance dependence and economic growth targets negatively moderate this effect. The impact of DED on urban LGUE exhibits a single threshold effect with DED as the threshold variable, and a dual threshold effect with economic development level as the threshold variable. Furthermore, the DED's impact varies across regions and city sizes, being more pronounced in eastern, western regions and large cities, and differs by digital-economy form. This study provides a novel perspective on leveraging digital transformation to resolve land resource misallocation and achieve sustainable urban development through improving LGUE.