Digital economy and low-carbon transformation of resource-based cities:mechanisms and empirical evidence
The digital economy,with its'green attributes,'is considered instrumental in accelerating the low-carbon transformation of cities.However,it is still controversial whether the digital economy can effectively promote the low-carbon transformation of resource-based cities with a single industrial structure and significant energy consumption.In view of this,this study took panel data from 111 Chinese resource-based cities from 2011 to 2020 as a sample and analyzed the impact and paths of the digital economy on the low-car-bon transformation of resource-based cities using a two-way fixed-effects model,while also considering heterogeneity from the perspec-tives of city type and the degree of economic development.The results showed that:① The digital economy played a significant positive role in promoting the low-carbon transformation of resource-based cities.This conclusion held when constructing Bartik instrumental variables to deal with possible endogeneity issues.Subsequent robustness tests conducted in three different ways all confirmed the ro-bustness of this finding.② The path analysis results revealed that reducing resource mismatch and improving labor productivity were important mechanisms through which the digital economy promoted the reduction of carbon emission intensity in resource-based cities.③ Heterogeneity analysis showed that the low-carbon transformation effect of the digital economy was only manifested in declining and regenerating resource-based cities,while in growing and mature resource-based cities,the effect was not significant.Additionally,the low-carbon transformation effect of the digital economy was more pronounced in resource-based cities with a high degree of economic development.Therefore,based on the findings of this study,the following policy recommendations are put forward:firstly,for the low-carbon transformation of resource-based cities,the government must fully recognize and emphasize the catalytic role of the digital econo-my;secondly,leverage the resource allocation effect and labor production effect of the digital economy in promoting the low-carbon transformation of resource-based cities;and lastly,formulate differentiated digital economy development strategies and low-carbon transformation measures tailored to the differentiated characteristics and development conditions of resource-based cities.
digital economyresource-based citieslow-carbon transformationcarbon emission intensity
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