Government Digital Transformation,Social Welfare and Common Prosperity
The emergence of the idea of digital governance and government empowerment in the context of the digital era is crucial for enhancing social welfare and firmly advancing common prosperity.It is an inevitable choice for the government to carry out digital reform to adapt to the digital era environment,and the degree to which digital government is constructed has a direct bearing on the viability and efficacy of the modernization of the national governance system and governance capability.Better and more inclusive public service delivery as well as more accurate and effective social governance are both achievable with digital transformation.This is a key element in enhancing social welfare and a solid base for advancing common prosperity.Based on China's urban panel data and local government procurement announcement data from 2017 to 2021,this paper measures the digital transformation investment level of local government digital procurement,and studies the impact and mechanism of government digital transformation on regional social welfare.The empirical findings demonstrate that local governments'investments in digital transformation can greatly boost the expansion of their social welfare,and the results hold up well to a number of robustness tests.On the one hand,government digitalization has the potential to increase local social welfare by transforming government activities,creating a more service-oriented government,raising the standard of fundamental public services,and creating a more transparent and clean government.On the other hand,the development of Internet-based government affairs platforms has an impact on the beneficial outcomes of government digital investments in advancing social welfare.The welfare enhancement effect of government digital investment is amplified by higher platform service levels,more engaged government affairs interaction,and quicker demand response.Further analysis shows that the digital transformation carried out by the government stimulates the vitality of local economic development,enhances the vitality of urban innovation and entrepreneurship,and thus contributes to the improvement of social welfare.Furthermore,the welfare effect of the government's digital transformation is also hampered by the digital divide,and this is most noticeable in places with high rates of aging and low levels of human capital.The policy implications are as follows:First,we should expedite the construction of an enabling digital government,improve the capacity of modern governance,and attain ongoing enhancements to the welfare of the populace.Second,we should encourage data transparency and resource integration,and fortify the platform's enabling mechanism through multi-party co-construction and sharing.Third,the local governments should strike a balance between distinctive and coordinated development,solve structural problems and unleash the growth potential of social welfare.
government digital transformationgovernance modernizationsocial welfarecommon prosperity
NETL
NSTL
万方数据
