Based on the micro-level data of China pa-tent application from 2011 to 2021 and the level data of 212 de-veloping cities,the balanced panel data is constructed to exam-ine the impact of digital infrastructure on the economic catch-up of developing cities,and to explore the transmission mecha-nism between them from the perspective of intercity innovation collaboration.The study finds that the construction of digital in-frastructure not only helps developing cities narrow the relative e-conomic gap with developed cities but also promotes the improve-ment of total factor productivity in developing cities.Heterogene-ity analysis indicates that catch-up scenarios such as economic levels and geographical locations all affect the effects of digital infrastructure on economic catch-up.The mechanism analysis shows that intercity innovation collaboration is an important channel for the impact of digital infrastructure on the economic catch-up of developing cities.Further,the intercity innovation collaboration transmission path has both the features of inclusive development and quality improvement.In terms of cooperative city,whether a developed or a developing city,innovation col-laboration can promote the economic catch-up.In terms of the type of innovation,it is mainly the substantive innovation collab-oration rather than the strategic innovation collaboration that pro-motes the economic catch-up.
万方数据
