Research on the Impact of Digital Economy on Industrial Modernization
Industrial modernization is the material foundation,fundamental driving force,and a decisive factor in China's modernization. The digital economy,a hallmark of the productivity transition brought about by the new generation of scientific and technological advances and industrial transformation,exhibits key characteristics such as high innovation,strong permeation,and broad applicability. It fosters the development of new high-quality productivity by empowering primary,secondary,and tertiary industries,thereby facilitating a leap in industrial growth. Given this context,constructing an analytical framework to clarify the mechanisms through which the digital economy influences industrial modernization is crucial. It enhances our understanding of how the digital economy contributes to China's modernization and identifies key pathways for accelerating digital economy growth and promoting industrial modernization.This paper defines industrial modernization through three dimensions:industrial structure,industrial quality,and industrial form. It then constructs a theoretical framework to explain how the development of the digital economy influences industrial modernization. The framework is empirically tested using data from China's prefecture-level cities between 2013 and 2021. The findings show a steady upward trend in industrial modernization during the observation period. Additionally,the digital economy has a significant positive impact on industrial modernization,exerting its influence through three main mechanisms:biased empowerment,open innovation,and factor integration. A heterogeneity analysis further reveals that the digital economy's influence is more pronounced in cities with smaller technological gaps,national industrial transformation and upgrading demonstration zones,and big data experimental zones.This paper extends the research in three key areas. First,it broadens the research perspective by integrating modernization theory with industrial economics to define the theoretical connotation of industrial modernization. It also explores how the digital economy impacts industrial modernization,enriching the literature on China's modernization and industrial development. Second,the paper deepens theoretical insights by combining the essential characteristics of the digital economy with the three dimensions of industrial modernization (structure,quality,and form). The framework systematically explains the biased empowerment,open innovation,and factor integration mechanisms,enhancing the depth of industrial modernization studies. Third,the paper introduces an empirical test using a comprehensive index system based on the theoretical definition of industrial modernization. It measures the development level of industrial modernization in China through vertical and horizontal grading methods and validates the specific mechanisms through empirical models such as the staggered difference-in-differences approach. This provides new empirical evidence on the relationship between the digital economy and the construction of a modern industrial system.
digital economyindustrial modernizationbiased empowermentopen innovationfactor integration
万方数据
维普
