IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecanpo/v85y2025icp1867-1884.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Can digital infrastructure improve corporate productivity? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China✰

Author

Listed:
  • Meng, Shunjie
  • Xu, Xiaoxin

Abstract

Digital infrastructure, as the basis for the development of the digital economy, has a significant impact on corporate activities. Based on China's enterprises data from 2007 to 2020, we construct a three-sector theoretical model and study the impact of digital infrastructure on firms' total factor productivity (TFP) using the Big Data Pilot Zone (BDP) policy as an exogenous shock. We adopt the difference-in-differences (DID) model and find that the BDP policy increases corporate TFP. The mechanism shows that the BDP policy improves corporate information technology capabilities. Meanwhile, the BDP policy helps firms better match talent and stimulates firms to engage in innovative activities. Furthermore, non-state-owned firms, high management quality firms, competitive industries, and highly digitized industries benefit more from the BDP policy. Our research highlights the significance of digital infrastructure for social change and offers empirical evidence and policy recommendations for advancing the close integration of the real and digital economies.

Suggested Citation

  • Meng, Shunjie & Xu, Xiaoxin, 2025. "Can digital infrastructure improve corporate productivity? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China✰," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 1867-1884.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecanpo:v:85:y:2025:i:c:p:1867-1884
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eap.2025.02.030
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S031359262500058X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.eap.2025.02.030?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Leopold Simar & Paul Wilson, 2000. "A general methodology for bootstrapping in non-parametric frontier models," Journal of Applied Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(6), pages 779-802.
    2. Daron Acemoglu & Philippe Aghion & Rachel Griffith & Fabrizio Zilibotti, 2010. "Vertical Integration and Technology: Theory and Evidence," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 8(5), pages 989-1033, September.
    3. Dale W. Jorgenson & Mun S. Ho & Kevin J. Stiroh, 2008. "A Retrospective Look at the U.S. Productivity Growth Resurgence," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 22(1), pages 3-24, Winter.
    4. Kong, Dongmin & Tao, Yunqing & Wang, Yanan, 2020. "China's anti-corruption campaign and firm productivity: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    5. Jeff L. McMullin & Bryce Schonberger, 2020. "Entropy-balanced accruals," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 25(1), pages 84-119, March.
    6. Klaus Desmet & Esteban Rossi-Hansberg, 2013. "Urban Accounting and Welfare," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 103(6), pages 2296-2327, October.
    7. Cai, Xiqian & Lu, Yi & Wu, Mingqin & Yu, Linhui, 2016. "Does environmental regulation drive away inbound foreign direct investment? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 73-85.
    8. Nathan Nunn & Nancy Qian, 2014. "US Food Aid and Civil Conflict," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(6), pages 1630-1666, June.
    9. Diego A. Comin & Martí Mestieri, 2010. "An Intensive Exploration of Technology Diffusion," NBER Working Papers 16379, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Feng, Yuan & Chen, Zhi & Nie, Changfei, 2023. "The effect of broadband infrastructure construction on urban green innovation: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 581-598.
    11. Tian, Xiaohan & Lu, Haiyong, 2023. "Digital infrastructure and cross-regional collaborative innovation in enterprises," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(PC).
    12. Branstetter, Lee G. & Li, Guangwei & Ren, Mengjia, 2023. "Picking winners? Government subsidies and firm productivity in China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(4), pages 1186-1199.
    13. Du, Gang & Li, Wendi, 2022. "Does innovative city building promote green logistics efficiency? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment with 285 cities," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    14. Olley, G Steven & Pakes, Ariel, 1996. "The Dynamics of Productivity in the Telecommunications Equipment Industry," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(6), pages 1263-1297, November.
    15. Daniel A. Ackerberg & Kevin Caves & Garth Frazer, 2015. "Identification Properties of Recent Production Function Estimators," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 83, pages 2411-2451, November.
    16. Diego Comin & Bart Hobijn, 2010. "An Exploration of Technology Diffusion," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(5), pages 2031-2059, December.
    17. Thorsten Beck & Ross Levine & Alexey Levkov, 2010. "Big Bad Banks? The Winners and Losers from Bank Deregulation in the United States," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(5), pages 1637-1667, October.
    18. Liu, Shasha & Yin, Shanshan & Yin, Chuan & Sheng, Yan, 2021. "Does the price of natural resources affect firms’ total factor productivity? Evidence from a natural experiment in China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 37-50.
    19. Steinmo, Marianne & Rasmussen, Einar, 2016. "How firms collaborate with public research organizations: The evolution of proximity dimensions in successful innovation projects," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(3), pages 1250-1259.
    20. Huang, Junbing & Cai, Xiaochen & Huang, Shuo & Tian, Sen & Lei, Hongyan, 2019. "Technological factors and total factor productivity in China: Evidence based on a panel threshold model," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 271-285.
    21. Ann Bartel & Casey Ichniowski & Kathryn Shaw, 2007. "How Does Information Technology Affect Productivity? Plant-Level Comparisons of Product Innovation, Process Improvement, and Worker Skills," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(4), pages 1721-1758.
    22. Dongmin Kong & Chen Lin & Lai Wei & Jian Zhang, 2022. "Information Accessibility and Corporate Innovation," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(11), pages 7837-7860, November.
    23. Menggen Chen & Songyangyang Zhao & Jiawen Wang, 2023. "The Impact of the Digital Economy on Regional Carbon Emissions: Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-34, October.
    24. Wooldridge, Jeffrey M., 2009. "On estimating firm-level production functions using proxy variables to control for unobservables," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 104(3), pages 112-114, September.
    25. Zhang, Yijun & Li, Xiaoping & Song, Yi & Jiang, Feitao, 2021. "Can green industrial policy improve total factor productivity? Firm-level evidence from China," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 51-62.
    26. Johannes Van Biesebroeck, 2007. "Robustness Of Productivity Estimates," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(3), pages 529-569, September.
    27. Li, Xin & Shao, Xuefeng & Chang, Tsangyao & Albu, Lucian Liviu, 2022. "Does digital finance promote the green innovation of China's listed companies?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    28. Guo, Bingnan & Wang, Yu & Zhang, Hao & Liang, Chunyan & Feng, Yu & Hu, Feng, 2023. "Impact of the digital economy on high-quality urban economic development: Evidence from Chinese cities," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    29. Zhai, Huayun & Yang, Min & Chan, Kam C., 2022. "Does digital transformation enhance a firm's performance? Evidence from China," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    30. Liu, Yun & Gao, Qun, 2024. "Economic policy uncertainty and enterprise innovation in China: From the perspective of equity financing and financing structure," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 17-33.
    31. Gu, Haoran & Yang, Shenggang & Xu, Zhaoyi & Cheng, Cheng, 2023. "Supply chain finance, green innovation, and productivity: Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    32. Ren, Xiaohang & Zhang, Xiao & Yan, Cheng & Gozgor, Giray, 2022. "Climate policy uncertainty and firm-level total factor productivity: Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    33. Dai, Xiaoyong & Sun, Zao & Liu, Hang, 2018. "Disentangling the effects of endogenous export and innovation on the performance of Chinese manufacturing firms," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 42-58.
    34. Zhang, Liangliang & Tao, Yunqing & Nie, Cong, 2022. "Does broadband infrastructure boost firm productivity? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 48(C).
    35. Lyu, Yanwei & Xiao, Xuan & Zhang, Jinning, 2024. "Does the digital economy enhance green total factor productivity in China? The evidence from a national big data comprehensive pilot zone," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 183-196.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lulin Liu & Xiaojie Ma & Yaolong Li, 2025. "Does New Infrastructure Promote the Development of Rural Industries? A Nonlinear Analysis Based on Provincial Panel Data from China," Land, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-26, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yanhong Feng & Shuanglian Chen & Pierre Failler, 2020. "Productivity Effect Evaluation on Market-Type Environmental Regulation: A Case Study of SO 2 Emission Trading Pilot in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-27, October.
    2. Michele Battisti & Filippo Belloc & Massimo Del Gatto, 2020. "Labor Productivity and Firm-Level TFP with Technology-Specific Production Function," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 35, pages 283-300, January.
    3. Li, Dongkun & Chen, Yufeng & Miao, Jiafeng, 2022. "Does ICT create a new driving force for manufacturing?—Evidence from Chinese manufacturing firms," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(1).
    4. Liu, Xiaohan & Liu, Jianmin & Wu, Haitao & Hao, Yu, 2022. "Do tax reductions stimulate firm productivity? A quasi-natural experiment from China," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 46(4).
    5. Ke-Liang Wang & Ting-Ting Sun & Ru-Yu Xu, 2023. "The impact of artificial intelligence on total factor productivity: empirical evidence from China’s manufacturing enterprises," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 56(2), pages 1113-1146, April.
    6. Michele Battisti & Filippo Belloc & Massimo Del Gatto, 2020. "Labor Productivity and Firm-Level TFP with Technology-Specific Production Function," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 35, pages 283-300, January.
    7. Kong, Gaowen & Wang, Shuai & Wang, Yanan, 2022. "Fostering firm productivity through green finance: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    8. Kong, Dongmin & Tao, Yunqing & Wang, Yanan, 2020. "China's anti-corruption campaign and firm productivity: Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 63(C).
    9. Guo, Shu & Zhang, ZhongXiang, 2023. "Green credit policy and total factor productivity: Evidence from Chinese listed companies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    10. Guo, Bingnan & Wang, Yu & Zhang, Hao & Liang, Chunyan & Feng, Yu & Hu, Feng, 2023. "Impact of the digital economy on high-quality urban economic development: Evidence from Chinese cities," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    11. Lu, Yunguo & Zhang, Lin, 2022. "National mitigation policy and the competitiveness of Chinese firms," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    12. Fernandes, Ana M. & Mattoo, Aaditya & Nguyen, Huy & Schiffbauer, Marc, 2019. "The internet and Chinese exports in the pre-ali baba era," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 57-76.
    13. Di Ubaldo, Mattia & Lawless, Martina & Siedschlag, Iulia, 2018. "Productivity spillovers from multinational activity to indigenous firms in Ireland," Papers WP587, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    14. Guo, Bingnan & Hu, Peiji & Lin, Ji, 2024. "The effect of digital infrastructure development on enterprise green transformation," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    15. Xiaoling Wang & Yiting Han & Baofeng Shi & Mohammad Zoynul Abedin, 2025. "The impacts of green credit guidelines on total factor productivity of heavy-polluting enterprises: A quasi-natural experiment from China," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 347(1), pages 41-68, April.
    16. Davide Castellani & Mariacristina Piva & Torben Schubert & Marco Vivarelli, 2018. "The source of the US /EU Productivity Gap:Less and less effective R&D," LEM Papers Series 2018/16, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    17. Robert Kulick, 2017. "Ready-to-Mix: Horizontal Mergers, Prices, and Productivity," Working Papers 17-38, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    18. Liu, Yajie & Cui, Lijuan & Xiong, Yanyan & Yao, Xianguo, 2023. "Does the development of the Internet improve the allocative efficiency of production factors? Evidence from surveys of Chinese manufacturing firms," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 161-174.
    19. Chiacchio, Francesco & Gradeva, Katerina & Lopez-Garcia, Paloma, 2018. "The post-crisis TFP growth slowdown in CEE countries: exploring the role of Global Value Chains," Working Paper Series 2143, European Central Bank.
    20. Zhao, Shuang & Zhang, Liqun & Peng, Lin & Zhou, Haiyan & Hu, Feng, 2024. "Enterprise pollution reduction through digital transformation? Evidence from Chinese manufacturing enterprises," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecanpo:v:85:y:2025:i:c:p:1867-1884. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/economic-analysis-and-policy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.