How Can the Digital Economy and Human Capital Improve City Sustainability

With the advent of the digital age and urbanization in China, the digital economy (DE) has gradually become a new engine for city sustainability (SUS). DE and SUS rely on human capital (HC) accumulation and development. It is necessary to study the linear and non-linear impact of DE on SUS, and the moderating effect of HC on the relationship between DE and SUS. The data of 278 prefecture-level cities from 2011 to 2019 were collected. The fixed-effect model and panel threshold regression model were adopted. The results show that DE can significantly promote SUS, and there is a single threshold of HC. In areas with a low level of HC, DE significantly inhibits SUS, and in areas with a high level of HC, DE particularly promotes SUS. There is a regional heterogeneity about the role of DE on SUS. The innovation is that DE, HC, and SUS are first brought into the same research framework. Furthermore, the impact of specific stages of HC development on the relationship between DE and SUS was quantitatively investigated.