Industrial digitalization: a continuous input-output accounting framework and evidence from China

The rapid development of the digital economy has shifted attention from expanding digital industries towards the integration of digital technologies into traditional production systems. However, existing measures based on digital industry scale, proxy indicators, or composite indices may not adequately capture the structural penetration of digital technologies across inter-industry production networks. To address this limitation, this study develops an input-output accounting framework integrating RAS-based structural updating, digital input identification, and value-added decomposition. Using this framework, we construct a provincial input-output dataset for 30 Chinese provinces from 2007 to 2022 and measure the scale and evolution of industrial digitalization. The results show sustained expansion and structural embedding of digital technologies in China’s production system. The tertiary sector exhibits the highest level and fastest growth, followed by the secondary sector, while the primary sector remains less digitalized. Spatially, regional concentration coexists with broader diffusion: advanced provinces remain leaders, while cross-provincial disparities gradually narrow. These findings highlight the cumulative, network-based nature of industrial digitalization and demonstrate the value of continuous input-output accounting for capturing its temporal, sectoral, and regional dynamics. The framework provides a consistent measurement infrastructure for data-constrained environments. The results reflect structural penetration and dynamic evolution rather than causal effects.