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The Impact of Digital Finance on the Green Utilization Efficiency of Urban Land: Evidence from 281 Cities in China

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  • Jie Zhang

    (College of Urban Economics and Public Administration, Capital University of Economics and Business, Beijing 100071, China)

  • Tao Sun

    (College of Urban Economics and Public Administration, Capital University of Economics and Business, Beijing 100071, China)

Abstract

In the era of digital economy, digital finance, as an innovative financial model, plays an important role in driving urban industrial transformation and development, technological innovation, industrial upgrading and sustainable utilization of energy, and has a significant impact on sustainable urban development. At present, in the process of building a new pattern of Chinese-style modernization in China, it is of great significance to improve the green use efficiency of urban land through digital finance and realize the sustainable use of land resources and the sustainable development of the city. The current study employed 281 Chinese cities from 2010 to 2020 as research samples to investigate the effects of technological financing on the productivity of city land green usage. Based on the ideas of responsible growth and efficient urban development, an assessment index system was developed. Comprehensive empirical tests, such as the Super-SBM model, fixed effect model, and mediation effect model, were implemented in the research. The study’s findings indicate that: (1) Throughout the research period, the benchmark model’s regression outcomes demonstrate that digital banking impacts urban land’s green development efficiency, with positive moderating effects offered by environmental legislation; the optimization of industrial structure has not yet played a positive regulating effect. (2) Urban area green usage performance is more clearly impacted by the extent of use and the degree of digitization, according to the regression results of digital financing heterogeneity. The positive effect of online financial services on a city’s green use efficiency occurs mainly in eastern cities and southern cities, given the results of urban development level difference. In light of resource endowment unpredictability, “non-resource cities” stand to gain more from global finance’s encouragement of resource-efficient urban land use than do “resource cities”. The results of the mechanism test indicate that there is a strong mediating influence from digital finance, city land environmental use productivity, and green technological breakthroughs. In consideration of these results, the following measures are suggested in this paper: (1) Persist in advocating for the transformation of traditional finance into online financing. (2) Intensify the impact of significant variables on the environmentally friendly use of urban areas. (3) Encourage technology creativity and execution through the application of technological economics.

Suggested Citation

  • Jie Zhang & Tao Sun, 2024. "The Impact of Digital Finance on the Green Utilization Efficiency of Urban Land: Evidence from 281 Cities in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-17, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:5:p:2003-:d:1348173
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Andreas Fuster & Matthew Plosser & Philipp Schnabl & James Vickery, 2019. "The Role of Technology in Mortgage Lending," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 32(5), pages 1854-1899.
    2. Shen, Yuchen & Ren, Xiaoping, 2023. "Digital finance and upgrading of industrial structure: Prefecture-level evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 55(PB).
    3. Leonid V Azarnert, 2023. "Population sorting and human capital accumulation," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 75(3), pages 780-801.
    4. Yuling Yuan & Dukangqi Li, 2023. "Urban Economic Efficiency, Environmental Factors, and Digital Finance: Impacts on Sustainable Development in Chinese Cities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-22, September.
    5. Haiyang Qiu & Xin Li & Long Zhang, 2023. "Influential Effect and Mechanism of Digital Finance on Urban Land Use Efficiency in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-21, October.
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