Research on the impact and mechanism of digital economy on the development of new quality productivity: an empirical analysis based on provincial panel data from 2012 to 2022

Abstract

With the continuous advancement of science and technology and the profound development of globalization, the conventional mode of economic growth and productivity's developmental trajectory have become inadequate to meet the demands of modern society. Consequently, innovation has emerged as a pivotal driving force for promoting economic and social progress, with new quality productivity being a significant outcome in this context. Drawing on provincial panel data from 2012 to 2022, this study explores the influence of the digital economy on new quality productivity's development and its underlying mechanisms. The findings demonstrate that the digital economy substantially fosters the advancement of new quality productivity, which remains valid even after conducting endogeneity tests. Mechanism analysis reveals that housing prices and social consumption levels exert notable regulatory effects on how the digital economy promotes new quality productivity's development: housing prices negatively regulate such promotion while social consumption levels play a positive adjusting role in their causal relationship. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that at both ends of China (Eastern and Western regions) as well as within industries characterized by medium-level structures, higher levels of digital economy significantly promote local advancements in new quality productivity. This investigation contributes to enhancing our understanding regarding the impacts, mechanisms, and regional disparities associated with developing new quality productivity through leveraging the potential offered by digital economy.